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Forecast for the Uintas Area Mountains

Craig Gordon
Issued by Craig Gordon on
Saturday morning, January 18, 2020
Heads up... we've got the perfect setup for avalanches to break on weak snow near the ground, resulting in a dangerously large slide that will instantly ruin your day. So... let's not lose our minds today over some fresh snow. Instead, let's think about having a great day, high fives at the trailhead, and getting back home to our families.
While not widespread, in upper elevation terrain in the wind zone, deceptively tricky avalanche conditions exist on steep, wind drifted slopes, especially those with an easterly component to its aspect. HIGH avalanche danger exists in terrain with these characteristics and human triggered avalanches are VERY LIKELY.
In addition, winds drifted snow onto steep, leeward, mid elevation slopes where a CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger exists and human triggered avalanches are LIKELY. Once triggered, today's drifts may break deeper and wider than you might expect.
Just the shear amount of new snow and yesterday's strong winds warrants an honorable mention on steep, lower elevation terrain where a MODERATE avalanche danger is found and human triggered slides are POSSIBLE.
Your exit strategy... give the storm snow a minute or two to settle and gain strength. Simply head to wind sheltered, low and mid elevation slopes or you can have a blast carving deep trenches in big open meadows
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
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Weather and Snow
Currently-
Man, what an over producer... storm that is :)
Yesterday's quick hitting system rolled across the valley like a cross-fire hurricane, slamming into the mountains, producing a round of THUNDER SNOW, and in a matter of a few hours, stacked up 10" of very light density snow. On the tail end of yesterday's storm, high clouds drifted into the region overnight and temperatures register in the single digits this morning. Friday's terrain punishing winds were all over the map (west-southwest-northwest) blowing in the 50's and 60's along the ridges and well down into the mountain valleys. While riding and turning conditions are all time, some of our big, open, upper elevation terrain took a hit from yesterday's wind. However, lose a little elevation, head to wind sheltered terrain and you'll be rewarded with cold, creamy snow.
Uinta weather network info is found here. Simply click on the Western Uinta tab.
For today-
Clouds linger over the high peaks and temperatures climb into the 20's. West-northwest winds are gonna be a nuisance along the ridges, blowing 20-30 mph, with a few gusts in the 40's near the high peaks.
Futurecast-
High pressure slides into the region later today, providing mostly sunny skies for the remainder of the weekend, light winds, and warming temperatures.
Recent Avalanches
Busy times on the eastern front with multiple human triggered slides reported Wednesday and Thursday.
This is a big slide on the north side of Humpy Peak at about 10,600' in elevation. Triggered Wednesday by the 5th rider on the slope, the avalanche broke 3'-5' deep, 1000' wide, and failed on weak snow near the ground. Lucky there was only one person on the slope, the group had eyes on their partner, and at the end of the day, everyone comes to home to their families. More details found here.
Meanwhile on the south end of the range near Blind Stream, riders found touchy conditions and reported... "Biggest avalanche we have seen in this area. We knew avalanche danger was high so we were being careful but triggered this one side-hilling down low on the hill." Both sled and rider where partially buried, but there were no injuries and lucky, everyone came out unscathed.
To view additional trip reports and recent avalanche activity, simply click here.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
The most in-your-face avalanche problem for today are fresh wind drifts. And, as seen in this image above from the south half of the range near Tabby Mountain yesterday... they were smokin'!!
Fact is, winds have blown in the 40's and 50's for days and they ramped up again yesterday as the intense cold front roared into the range. In addition, they've been all over the map, loading terrain in unusual locations and depositing snow further down-slope than we usually expect to see. Yep... winds changed the landscape and have created tricky avalanche conditions. Once initiated, today's drifts will break deeper and wider than you might expect, creating a slide that quickly gets out of hand. Your best bet for avoidance is to simply steer clear of any fat, rounded piece of snow, especially if it sounds hollow like a drum.
Avalanche Problem #2
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
It's been a great run and we've stacked up an impressive amount of snow in the past two weeks. However, the trifecta of storm snow, water weight, and winds formed a dense, connected slab on the leeward side of mid and upper elevation ridges. Complicating matters is this... all the fresh snow is gonna ride deep and the pre-existing snow surface it fell on is gonna feel strong underneath us. Now here's the problem... we've gotta think not only about the snow we're riding in, but also the snow we're riding on and all of this additional weight is stressing weak layers buried in the snowpack, bringing them back to life... and these layers are WOKE!
Muddying the waters even further is that some slopes have either avalanched, but are now covered over with fresh snow making that trend hard to detect, or they've adjusted to the additional weight and are good to go. The tricky part is that other slopes just wait for us to roll along and knock the legs out from underneath. And here's the danger... once initiated, often low on the slope, avalanches have a distinct possibility of breaking much deeper and wider than you might expect.
With all the great riding right now there's no reason to pull on the dogs tail today. It's a long season and the snow needs time to adjust. Be patient for the next couple of days and simply stay off of and out from under steep wind drifted slopes
Avalanche Problem #3
New Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
We've had a lot of new snow this week and now its stacking up around our trailheads and at lower elevations. Remember... even if you're headed out for a trail run, snowshoe, dog walk, or family sled adventure, be aware of steep slopes above and adjacent to where you're playing and avoid terrain traps like gullies and streambeds.
Additional Information
Thanks to the generous support of our Utah ski resorts and Ski Utah, we have discount lift tickets available. All proceeds support the UAC. Get your tickets HERE.
Get one of these cool t-shirts to support the UAC and other avalanche centers across the U.S. INFO
General Announcements
The information in this forecast expires in 24 hours, but will be updated by 7:00 AM Sunday Jan. 19th.
This forecast is updated daily by 7:00 AM.
In the mean-time, if you see or trigger an avalanche or just wanna let me know what you're seeing you can reach me directly at 801-231-2170
It'll be a minute or two before we're riding, but while you're waiting....
This is a great time of year to schedule one of our free avy awareness presentations.
You can email me directly [email protected]
The information in this forecast is from the US Forest Service which is solely responsible for its content.
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