Avalanche forecast

Uintas

Utah Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

  • Alpine
  • Treeline
  • Below treeline
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Out of date — this forecast expired 6 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Making up a small portion of terrain available to ride on today, in the wind zone at and above treeline, you'll find pockets of MODERATE avalanche danger. Human triggered avalanches are POSSIBLE on steep wind drifted slopes, facing the north half of the compass, especially those with an easterly component to its aspect.

Lose some elevation, lose the wind, and encounter generally LOW avalanche danger.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1

    24 hour wind data from Windy Peak (10,662') illustrating recent ridgetop winds.

    As you know, wind was invented in the Uinta's and it's crazy how a few inches of storm snow coupled with 48 hours of strong southerly winds, creates connected wind drifts along the leeward side of upper elevation ridges. The good news is, recent drifts have settled significantly, are becoming comfortable in their own skin, and won't be nearly as sensitive as they were yesterday. Though here's the heads up... in the wind zone, today's drifts still have the potential to break deeper and wider than you might expect and could easily, knock you off your feet, slam you into a tree, and instantly ruin your day.

    However, you don't have to roll the dice and take any chances because recent drifts are easy to detect by their fat, rounded appearance and most importantly, they're easy to avoid! Simply lose a little elevation, swing over to wind sheltered, low angle terrain, you lose the problem and have a great day of riding.

Special Announcement

We know there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the Coronavirus, but the Utah Avalanche Center is planning to continue issuing regular avalanche forecasts into April.

Uphill Travel at Ski Areas -

Some resorts will be offering limited uphill access but not all do. Up to date info about uphill access from Ski Utah is posted HERE.

Recent Activity

From Saturday-

Michael J intentionally triggered this well connected soft slab along the leeward side of a steep wind drifted slope near Hoyt Peak... definitely big enough to let you know who's Boss (and I ain't talkin' Springsteen... yo :)

Mike's insight and great trip report from yesterday is found here.

To view additional trip reports and recent avalanche activity, simply click here.

Snow and Weather

Currently-

Skies cleared overnight, yet temperatures remained on the mild side, currently registering in upper 20's and low 30's. Southerly winds have mellowed somewhat, but are still pretty obnoxious, blowing 30-50 mph along the high ridges.

The good news is... recent storms vastly improved riding conditions. Wind sheltered, upper elevation terrain offers soft, settled, cold snow and depending on elevation, sunny slopes deliver supportable corn for a couple hours in the morning.

Uinta weather network info is found here. Simply click on the Western Uinta tab.

For today-

Look for mostly sunny skies for most of the day and continued mild temperatures with highs climbing into the mid 40's. Southwest winds blow in the 30's and 40's, gusting into the 50's along the high peaks. Clouds increase late in the day with a slight chance of scattered snow showers.

Futurecast-

A weakening storm crosses the region mid week, with a better chance for widespread precip. along with cooler temperatures sliding through our zone late Thursday into Friday.

Additional Info

From Saturday-

In mid elevation terrain, Chad found loose snow sluffs, manageable avalanche conditions, and great riding on wind sheltered slopes. His trip report is found here.

General Announcements

The information in this forecast expires in 24 hours, but will be updated by 7:00 AM Tuesday Mar. 17th.

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

The information in this forecast is from the US Forest Service which is solely responsible for its content.

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