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Forecast for the Uintas Area Mountains

Craig Gordon
Issued by Craig Gordon on
Sunday morning, March 24, 2019
In the wind zone at and above treeline you'll find MODERATE avalanche danger. Human triggered avalanches are POSSIBLE on steep leeward slopes facing the north half of the compass. Limited to a small percentage of the terrain available to ride in today, if you're getting into steep, technical terrain facing the north half of the compass remember, there may be a rogue drift or two large enough to boss you around.
Lose some elevation and you'll find the avalanche danger is generally LOW with both human triggered and natural avalanches unlikely. Remember though, LOW danger doesn't mean NO danger... it's a mountain environment after-all.
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
Learn how to read the forecast here
Weather and Snow
Skies are cloudy, light snow is falling, and an organized band of precip stacks up a little more snow this morning, adding to the 4" that fell across the range last night. Currently, temperatures are in the low to mid 20's and southeast winds blow in the 20's along the high ridges. Riding and turning conditions are a bit rugged down low, but once you get past the old, hard tracks there's plenty of dense, creamy snow to be had.
Above is hourly data from Trial Lake (9,945') and Windy Peak (10,662'). To view more regional weather stations click here.
Our main man Ted Scroggin was in the Whitney Basin yesterday and found the weekend storms have stacked up about 7" of snow in the high country. He notes that low angle slopes are the ticket today where you'll have more of a cushion protecting your ride from the crusty snow surfaces which developed last week. More on Ted's travels here.
Recent Avalanches
A few shallow drifts, breaking 8"-12" deep, were easily triggered on steep, leeward slopes yesterday.
Recent trip reports and avy activity found HERE.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Winds whipped up a few fresh drifts, like the one Ted found yesterday in the image above, and these will be reactive to our additional weight today. Limited to steep, leeward slopes in the wind zone, today you'll want to look for and avoid any fat, rounded piece of snow, especially if it sounds hollow like a drum. Out of the wind, upper elevation wind sheltered terrain harbors weak surface snow and while mostly manageable in size, a large loose snow sluff in steep, technical, north facing terrain could knock you off your skis, board, or sled and take you for an unexpected ride.
And finally don't forget-
Cornices are ginormous and may break back further than you might expect. You definitely wanna give these large, unpredictable pieces of snow a wide berth and not ruin someones day below by inadvertently knocking a boxcar size piece of snow down on them.
Additional Information
A weather system passing just north brings snow showers to the area this morning with an additional inch or two expected. High temperatures rise into the mid 30's and southwest winds blow in 20's and 30's along the high peaks.
High pressure brings a drying and warming trend for Monday and Tuesday.
General Announcements
The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:00 AM Monday March 25th, 2019.
If you're getting out and about, please let me know what you're seeing especially if you see or trigger and avalanche. I can be reached at [email protected] or 801-231-2170
It's also a good time to set up one of our very popular avalanche awareness classes. Reach out to me and I'll make it happen.
This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done. This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.
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