Uintas

It's pretty straight-forward today, but expect rising avalanche danger to kick off the workweek-

For today, pockets of MODERATE avalanche danger are found on steep, rocky, upper elevation, leeward slopes. Drifted slopes in the wind zone, above treeline remain suspect and human triggered avalanches are POSSIBLE, particularly in terrain facing the north half of the compass. If you're looking for LOW avalanche danger, remember the Uinta's have plenty of wind sheltered options. Human triggered avalanches are UNLIKELY on most mid and lower elevation slopes, particularly those facing the south half of the compass.

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From across canyon, avy-savvy, snow-pro Bill Nalli spotted this beefy, natural avalanche near Shingle Mill Peak and comments... "The depth looks to range from 2'-4' deep, 200' wide and 800' vertical. It likely released sometime toward the end of the last storm, on 3/15."

Plenty of avy activity to peruse if ya wanna geek out. Click HERE to track this years slide activity throughout the range.

Nowcast- Yesterday's high clouds scooted to the east early this morning, revealing our amazingly fat, white mountains and allowing temperatures to dip into the single digits across the board. Winds blow from the south and are rather well behaved, humming along in the teens and low 20's along the high ridges. The sun is high in the sky and lower elevation solars have taken on a little heat and have a thin crust. But swing around to wind sheltered polars and you'll be rewarded with shallow, cold, creamy snow.

Forecast- You'll have a little time to continue working on your winter tan, but that window of opportunity closes as clouds thicken by late afternoon. Temperatures climb into the mid and upper 30's, southwest winds ramp up as the day progresses, and we might see a scattered flurry or two by sunset.

Futurecast- A solid shot of snow slides through the region overnight and an injection of cold air gives the storm a boost on Monday. Look for storm totals in the 12"-16" range by early Tuesday. This is round one of several impulses on tap for this week. After a brief break in the action, a second significant storm system impacts the area late Tuesday into Thursday. Moisture from an atmospheric river initially moves into southern Utah before spreading northward.

We've got a busy week on tap and it starts off with a Winter Storm Warning for tonight through late Monday.

A solid crew was out and about late this week stomping around the range-

Ted was near Gold Hill , Micheal J wheeled around to Lower Weber Canyon, and Trevor Katz spun a lap in the Upper Humpy Drainage. Everyone reports excellent riding conditions with generally stable avalanche hazard.

Detailed trip reports and recent obs are found HERE.

Weather stations-

And... rime events from January's atmospheric rivers severely crippled the Uinta weather station network. I'm working to get it back up and running, but a few stations are found HERE (click weather stations, and then on the Western Uinta tab)

"Let's see if this wire placement makes it work (says the frustrated western Uinta avy forecaster)... it does!" Lofty Lake Peak weather station maintenance yesterday. Thanks to Cody Hughes for the assist :)

Observations-

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Issued at 03:17 on Sunday March 19th this forecast expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but will be updated by 07:00 Monday March 20th 2023.

Before it gets too crazy, now is the time to book an avalanche awareness presentation for your group, club, or posse. You can reach Craig directly at 801-231-2170 or [email protected].

This forecast is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This forecast describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.