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Out of date — this forecast expired 8 months ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Heads up... once triggered, today's avalanches will instantly ruin our day-

At and above treeline, recent storm snow conspired with wind to create CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger and human triggered avalanches are LIKELY on steep, upper elevation slopes, especially those facing the north half of the compass.Breaking 3-5 feet deep, failing into old snow, and shattering up to a football field wide, these are tree snapping, not to be messed around with avalanche conditions. Remember, once initiated, even a small avalanche can step-down, breaking deeper into the snowpack and triggering a larger, unmanageable slide.

Here's my exit strategy... I'm gonna have a great day in the sun and avoid avalanche terrain altogether by steering my program towards high quality riding on low angle, south facing slopes, where there's no persistent weak layer underneath our recent round of storms. Done, done, and done :)

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    3

    Recent snow, water, and wind are a trifecta wallop to our snowpack and many slopes teeter in the balance just waiting for a trigger like us to roll along and knock the legs out from underneath. The snowpack is hardly straight-forward and complicating matters... we may not see the biggest clue to unstable snow... recent avalanche activity. Since this is the first real test of our snowpacks strength, I'm treating this setup as guilty until proven otherwise. I'm moving with caution and intent by gathering facts and looking out for red flags like cracking or collapsing sounds. I'm also gonna remind myself that persistent slabs are tricky, unmanageable avalanches and instead of trying to outsmart the snowpack, I'm gonna use avalanche avoidance as my go-to tool.

    Here's the mind-warp... we can put 100 tracks on a slope without triggering a slide, but all the 101st rider needs to do is find a shallow spot in the snowpack, like around a bush or a rock, collapse the weak layer (whumpf), and now we're staring down the barrel of a dangerous avalanche.

    Above, Chad and Al discuss the set-up they see out in the Mirror Lake Corridor near Reids Peak where a strong, dense slab sits above weak, early season, faceted snow that continues to show signs of life.

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    2

    24 hour data dump from Lofty Lake Peak (11,186') clearly illustrating recent wind trends near the high peaks.

    Fortunately, winds quickly died down yesterday morning as the second wave of storminess slid over the region. However, that coat of white paint is camouflaging dense drifts formed Sunday night and that'll add a tricky curve ball to today's avalanche equation. My greatest concern is where fresh, dense drifts sit atop old, faceted snow near the ground, and once triggered, will turn a relatively small and manageable avalanche into a deep, and potentially life-threatening slide.

    I'm looking for and avoiding fat, rounded pillows of snow, especially on the leeward side of ridges, chutes, gully walls, and cut banks. Dense snow may feel supportable, but can sound hollow like a drum and that's a big clue to an upside-down snow structure. And finally, cornices are getting meaty, will be touchy today, and are gonna pack a punch. Give 'em plenty of room, and remember, a cornice tumbling down on the slope below can easily trigger a larger avalanche that gets quickly out of hand.

Special Avalanche Bulletin

What-

The Utah Avalanche Center is warning of dangerous avalanche conditions throughout the mountains of northern Utah this week, where heavy snowfall and strong winds have created a CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger. Large and unsurvivable tree snapping avalanches 4-6 feet deep have already occurred, multiple riders have been critically buried in an avalanche in the Brighton backcountry since Friday, and more human-triggered avalanches are expected, with natural avalanches possible.

When-

In effect from 6AM MST today to 6AM MST Wednesday

Where-

For the mountains of Northern Utah, including the Wasatch Range...Uinta Mountains.

Impacts-

Dangerous avalanche conditions exist on many slopes. Avalanches are likely to be triggered by anyone traveling on or below slopes steeper than 30 degrees and may be triggered remotely (from a distance) or from below. People stepping out of bounds at a ski area are stepping into the same dangerous avalanche conditions.

Recent Activity

Viz was hit or miss yesterday, but through the milk jug we did get a glimpse at a steep, wind drifted slope in Upper Weber Canyon that avalanched with a thump of a cornice. The slide broke into old snow. More travel observations and older avalanches are just a click away on the button below.

View All Observations Here

Snow and Weather

Nowcast - From the valley of dry bone dreams to insta-winter, wow... nice snow for the eastern front! Sunday nights North Slope favored storm delivered 18" of snow with 2" H20, diminishing to half that amount from Mirror Lake through the south half of the range. Skies are generally clear at o'dark thirty as winds from the west blow 10-20 mph along the high peaks. You didn't need the block heater last night, but temperatures in the mid teens F will feel more winter-like when you step out of the door this morning.

Forecast - A stunning day is on tap with mostly sunny skies, light winds, and temperatures climbing into the upper 20's F. Overnight lows dip into the teens.

Futurecast - Clouds increase Wednesday afternoon with snow developing by about dinnertime. It's a good shot of storminess that kicks into gear Thursday morning with heavy snow and unlike our last storm, much colder temperatures. I think we can bank on a foot of snow and inch of water as we wrap up the workweek... just in time for a sunny Saturday with temperatures warming through the weekend.

Travel Conditions - It'll be over-the-hood and over-the-head! In the past 48 hours, riding quality and travel conditions have dramatically improved across the range with supportable snow depths registering from 3'-5'. It's still a little lean at lower elevations, but the Christmas Eve raincrust keeps us off the ground and Sunday's storm is helping put to bed any lingering rocks, stumps, and bumps.

Better Nate than lever... lower and mid elevations are starting to fill in.

Additional Info

There is no better time to take any avalanche course than now! Whether you sled, ski, board or snow angel, we have a class for you. Reach out to us to get into an avalanche course that fits you best, or get your riding crew together and lets set-up a private day on snow!

Click here for a list of courses!

Students in a Sled Backcountry 101 course working on their pit craftsmanship and learning how to properly perform an ECT test and how to communicate those results.

There is no better way to learn about avalanches than investigating avalanches! Students from a recent course take a look at an old human triggered avalanches and try to put the pieces together to understand what happened.

General Announcements

We have some upcoming classes and events that we'd be stoked to see you at -- Please reach out with any questions and check out below for more details!

See All Courses & Events Here

We are always looking for snow and avalanche observations or just general riding conditions. Reach out to us with questions, concerns, or if you see anything in your travels! Contact us directly through the info below:

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 Tuesday, January 6th at 0400 AM and expires 24 hours after it was issued. We'll update this information by 07:00 AM tomorrow.

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