Moab & La Sal Mountain Conditions Update for Thursday, December 14th, 2016

Weather

WINTER STORM WATCH has been issued by the NWS. A point forecast for 10,000 is showing 20-24″ of snow possible! The storm will arrive Friday night with lot’s of warm moisture from a SW flow starting warm and then being affected by a cold front. 10,000 ft. temperatures forecast to stay above freezing until about midnight at which point heavy snow should be continuing all day Friday. And as usual, the wind will blow significantly with this frontal passage, so please use caution if you plan to head out.

La Sal Mountain Road conditions.

The La Sal Loop Road has some ice and snowy patches up high, so please drive with care. The Geyser Pass Road is plowed, snow packed, and slippery. Expect impassable conditions Saturday morning after wind and snow forecast all day Friday. We do not know when the next scheduled road closing and plowing will occur. Of course, the storm does have a chance of missing us, so watch our website for more updates or you can check the Moab Area Mountains Forecast at utahavalanchecenter.org for more road information and to learn more about plowing closures.

Grooming

LUNA groomed the trail up to the junction of the Gold Basin Road on Wednesday afternoon. The snow should set-up nicely for a Thursday morning skate session. Those of you that prefer the corduroy should take advantage of it. You will have to wait for a few days after this weekends storm for LUNA staff to pack out the significant snowfall that is forecasted Expect more grooming after this weekends storm possibly as early as Saturday night if the trailhead is accessible.

Avalanche

This weekends storm, although coming in warm to cold, which makes for a more stable snowpack, will still provide an EXTREME load on our snow pack. Please visit the Moab Avalanche Center website for up to date information. Want to learn more? Thursay night is a “Know Before You Go” Avalanche awareness talk at the Grand County Library. PLEASE consider a small (or large) donation. Also, the main Utah Avalanche Website has an enormous amount of educational material. Snow cover is dense enough for back country travel, but extreme caution should be taken with such a shallow snow pack.