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Out of date — this forecast expired 6 months ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

At and above treeline, you'll find MODERATE avalanche danger in steep, polar terrain facing the north half of the compass. Human triggered avalanches breaking two feet deep and a couple hundred feet wide are POSSIBLE. Here's where it gets tricky... today's avalanches can be triggered from a distance and will fail on persistent weak layers formed during the January dry-spell, delivering a punch-packing slide that breaks deeper and wider than we might expect.

Here's my exit strategy today... I'm gonna tag solar slopes before they get baked by the sun, then swing over to low angle polar terrain with no overhead hazard where the livin' is easy :)

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    2

    Several storms worth of snow along with wind drifts scattered in the alpine, now rest on top a persistent weak layer of near surface facets that grew large and grainy during the long stretch of dry January weather. The wheels of the bus aren't coming off just yet, but they are wobbling and all we need now is to stack a slab on top of this structurally challenged layer.

    So here's where it gets tricky... as recent storm snow begins to settle and gain some body, it'll also gain some strength and morph into a more cohesive piece of snow or what we call a slab. This of course, is a natural process, but as the snow goes through changes it'll also get touchy and react to our additional weight. Once triggered, today's avalanches may break a bit deeper and wider than we might expect, packing a punch as they gouge into weak layers of snow, now buried just over a foot beneath the snow surface.

Recent Activity

The snowpack came to life yesterday and definitely started talking. On my field day with John on the south half of the range, we experienced multiple collapses along with no shortage of shooting cracks in front of our skis like in the image above. Weston and Shaun were near Mirror Lake and report similar findings found HERE.

View All Avalanches & Observations Here

Snow and Weather

Nowcast - Tallying up the numbers around the range and it's clear, this was a good three day storm for the eastern front especially for the Trial Lake zone which piled up 14" of snow with 1.5" H2O. Upper elevation terrain on either side of the Mirror Lake Corridor stacked up closer to 12" of snow with just over an 1" H20. Under mostly cloudy skies, colder air filtered into the Uinta's overnight and temperatures registering in the teens and low 20's °F will make it feel more winter-like when you step into the mountains this morning. At just 5-10 mph, winds blowing from the west and southwest barely spin ridgetop anemometer propellers.

Forecast - Look for partly cloudy skies with a scattered snow shower or two moving through the region late in the day. In the meantime, winds remain light and variable while temperatures climb into the mid 30's °F. Overnight lows dip into the teens °F under clearing skies.

Futurecast - High pressure builds over northern Utah to deliver a beautiful weekend. Expect mostly sunny skies, light winds, and temperatures climbing into the mid and upper 30's °F. After a lull in the action, we're still on track for an active storm pattern kicking off the workweek.

Check out the Uinta Weather Network here!

Travel Conditions - Please don't get discouraged by the mud and patches of bare ground at the trailheads. Gain a little elevation and you'll see the recent storms have delivered a nice coat of white paint to the high country.

Local snow-pros Dave and Johanna Kelly were in the Soapstone zone yesterday and have some great intel detailing their travels HERE.

On Monday... Andy, Liam, and Juniper (the dog) installed a beacon training park near Wolf Creek Summit. It's super straight-forward and intuitive, and all the instructions are at the control center. Next time you see Liam or Andy, hit 'em up with a high-five for all the hard work. Truth be known... Juniper was only onboard because she thought the crew kept saying "bacon training park." So in lieu of a high-five, a back scratch or an Andy approved meat treat acknowledging Juniper's moral support will probably suffice :)

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!

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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 Friday, February 13th at 0300 and expires 24 hours after it was issued. We'll update this information by 07:00 AM tomorrow

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