Lawinenlagebericht

Uintas

Utah Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

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  • Waldgrenze
  • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
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Kernpunkte

Still in a holding pattern, but wait... there's more!

A warm, wet, windy system is on the doorstep and we expect avy danger to rise accordingly and around the dial with the storms arrival later today.

While we wait... southwest winds blasted the ridges overnight and we kick the day off with MODERATE avalanche danger on mid and upper elevation, leeward, polar aspects. Human triggered wind drifts are POSSIBLE insteep terrain facing the north half of the compass. Note to self... once triggered, today's avalanches could fail deeper into old, sugary facets now buried 1'-3’ beneath the snow surface, delivering a body-bruising slide breaking deeper and wider than we might expect.

Low elevation terrain, especially slopes facing the south half of the compass or big open meadows with no steep slopes above us, offer a solid exit strategy and generally LOW avalanche danger.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Wind Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Likely
    Größe
    3

    This unintentionally triggered wind drift from Thursday afternoon, occurred on a steep, easterly (with perhaps a titch of south) facing slope at about 10,000' near Currant Creek Peak. Catching my attention is the surprising amount of debris stacking up several feet in places. More deets here.

    The most obvious, in-yer-face avalanche dragon are fresh drifts that'll grow in size and depth as the day wares on. Found mostly on the leeward side of mid and upper elevation ridges, it wouldn't surprise me to discover a wind drifted pocket or two lurking around terrain features like a chute or gully wall. In addition, very strong winds will deposit snow lower down slope than we might expect. With storm snow available to work with, I suspect the Uinta region will be dotted with drifts that resemble baby humpbacks.

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    3

    Persistent weak layer (PWL)... it's in the name, the avalanche encyclopedia, and now a very well written and informative BLOG.

    The weekend storm adds a whole 'lotta love to the snowpack and that's good news in the long haul, but there's short-term pain for long term gain. In fact, the next couple days are gonna be a good test to see how deeply buried weak layers react. My hunch is... if the storm materializes as forecast, I suspect we'll see a rather notable avalanche cycle. Here's where it gets tricky... as snow and water stacks up, many slopes will teeter on the edge, just waiting for a trigger like us to roll along and knock the legs out from underneath. We've got a couple critical days coming up and we definitely don't wanna be tugging on the avalanche dragons tail testing out our theories.

    How do you manage a rowdy avalanche dragon? I keep it straight forward and tight. I'm avoiding steep, rocky, mid and upper elevation terrain on the north half of the compass, especially where the pack is slightly thinner. And I remind myself... thin spots are potential trigger points and exist near bushes, rocks, or steep rollovers.

  • Storm Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    1

    If the storm actually produces and new snow stacks up fast and furiously, the storm snow could get touchy. Keep an on the type of turf you're traveling in and avoid terrain traps like gullies and creek bottoms where avalanche debris could pile up very deeply.

Special Announcement

Urgent battery replacement required for anyone who received batteries from one of our participating "Batteries for Beacons" shops. Please review the "Batteries for Beacons" replacement notice on our blog. Batteries distributed through our "Batteries for Beacons" program this year have shown to be inadequate length.

Recent Activity

It's already getting spicy with just a slight uptick in winds. Yesterday, Trevor spotted this loose snow avalanche trying to be a slab, on a steep, north facing slope near Double Hill.

Check out more obs and trip reports from across the range and beyond, here!

Snow and Weather

Nowcast- Under mostly cloudy skies, the much anticipated storm channels my personal track record of higher education... a little tardy to class, (clearly a trouble-maker :) but offers some promise, and is just getting going. This should be a good snow-maker for the North Slope and it looks like Trial Lake got the party started with 3" of dense, heavy snow quickly stacking up since midnight. Southwest winds crank into the 40's near the high peaks and temperatures register in the low to mid 20's.

Forecast- An Atmospheric River (AR) ushers in a good shot of moisture and I think the Uinta's could potentially light up as the day wares on. Snow totals in the 8"-10" range with a good dose of water... perhaps nearly 1.5" of SWE seems reasonable. Temperatures climb into the mid 30's while west and southwest winds blow in the 40's and 50's, ramping into the 70's later by about sunset

Futurecast- A break in the action later today with another slug of moisture sliding through tonight into Sunday. The downside is warming temperatures and rising snow levels. Unseasonably warm conditions follow for early next week, with another storm system arriving for hump day.

A colorful map suggests an active weather pattern and a Winter Storm Warning for the Uinta zone.

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General Announcements

The Uinta weather station network was upgraded this summer and all that real-time info is found here. Simply click on the "Western Uinta" tab and then the "Weather Stations" tab to find all your weather needs.

We are always looking for snow and avalanche observations or just general riding conditions. So... if you see something, say something. You can reach our team directly by contacting: Craig at [email protected], 801-231-2170, or Andrew at [email protected], or 860-460-8142.

General Information

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. This forecast was issued on Saturday, February 1st at 04:00AM and expires 24 hours after it was issued. We will update the forecast by 0700 AM tomorrow. But, in the meantime reach out to us with questions, or if you see anything in your travels.

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