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Out of date — this forecast expired 7 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

While not widespread and making up a small portion of the terrain available to ride today, in the wind zone, at and above treeline, you'll find CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger. Human triggered avalanches are LIKELY on steep wind drifted slopes, especially those facing the north half of the compass and particularly those with an easterly component to their aspect. Any avalanche that breaks into deeper buried weak layers near the ground will result in a deep, dangerous slide.

A MODERATE avalanche danger exists on steep, mid elevation, wind drifted slopes and human triggered avalanches are POSSIBLE.

Safer riding alternatives exist on low angle, lower elevation, wind sheltered slopes with no steep slopes above or adjacent to where you're riding. In terrain with these characteristics you'll find generally LOW avalanche danger and human triggered avalanches are UNLIKELY.

Avalanche problems

  • Cornices

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    4

    After a brief sabbatical, winds came back to work yesterday, busily creating additional layers of cornice that may break back further than you might expect. And remember- several large, recent avalanches have been triggered with cornice fall. You definitely wanna give these large, unpredictable pieces of snow a wide berth and not ruin someones day below by inadvertently knocking a boxcar size piece of snow down on them.

    A piece of cornice releasing naturally, rolled down onto the slope below sometime early Sunday morning, triggering this large slide that broke to weak snow near the ground. Approx 8' deep, 200' wide, and running 800' vertically, this avalanche occurred on a NE aspect at 10,300' at the upper reaches of Mill Fork of Chalk Creek. (Nalli images)

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    4

    The images above illustrate a tale of two snowpacks.

    The top image is a slide triggered Sunday with a good thump on an upper elevation, southerly facing slope which has remained shallow and weak this season. No es bueno.

    The next image shows a deep, strong snowpack that's becoming happy in its own skin.

    The good news....

    It feels like we're starting to turn the corner where the snowpack is becoming thick, and deep dangerous avalanches are becoming harder to trigger.

    The bad news...

    All we need to do is find a shallow, weak portion of the snowpack, perhaps around a rock or bush that we can't see underneath the snow, collapse the slope (whoomph), and now we're staring down the barrel of a dangerous avalanche. This type of snow structure is particularly dangerous because the range is fat and white and the snowpack is gonna feel really strong and supportable. As a matter of fact we can ride many slopes without incident and think we're good to go.

    The news we need to know....

    The common theme for all the big avalanches we've seen recently is they've occurred on steep, rocky, upper elevation, wind drifted slopes facing the north half of the compass, along with slopes that avalanched earlier this season and have a shallow snowpack.

    Flake news....

    The key to a successful day of riding means avoiding bulls-eye terrain where unmanageable avalanche dragons live.

    Here's what our weak snow near the ground looks like and Cody's take... "4-6 mm Depth Hoar crystals found in our snowpit in the Humpy Creek drainage. Hard to trust a depth hoar snowpack even when buried this deep..."

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    2

    While winds died down late in the day and it feels like we're starting to run out of snow available for transport, it never ceases to amaze me how the Uinta range can find snow, channel it through terrain features, and form dense, stiff drifts. Remember- wind was invented in the Uinta's and it can quickly change the landscape, ruin vast amounts of soft snow, and whip up fresh drifts sensitive to our additional weight. While today's wind drifts are found mostly along the leeward side of mid and upper elevation ridges, like in the image above, drifts also formed around terrain features like chutes or gullies. In any case, today you'll want to look for and avoid any fat, rounded piece of snow, especially if it sounds hollow like a drum. (Earle image)

Special Announcement

The accident reports for the four avalanche fatalities are all finalized with some first-hand accounts and worth reading. We all have something to learn so that we can get home safely to our loved ones.

Jan 18 Electric Lake Accident (Skyline area)

Jan 25 Laurel Peak Accident (Moab area)

Feb 7 Circleville Mtn Accident (Southwest area near Beaver, UT)

Feb 9 Chalk Creek Accident (Western Uintas)

Many thanks to these fine gentlemen for helping to install our Beacon Basin on the north end of the Nobletts parking lot. While you're in the hood and waiting for your partner or group, you can keep warm and test your avalanche beacon rescue skills at the same time.... your partners will be stoked.

Recent Activity

YEP... IT'S BEEN WINDY!

Breaking about a foot deep and 150' wide, Cody and Dave were able to pop out this stiff wind slab Wednesday, on an upper elevation shady slope in Whitney Basin. (Hughes image)

And on Monday, winds produced shallow, yet surprisingly connected, natural avalanches on steep, upper elevation leeward slopes facing the north half of the compass. (Finch images)

Recent trip reports and avy activity found HERE.

Snow and Weather

High, thin clouds linger in the wake of yesterday's little brush-by that delivered an inch or two of spongy, high density snow. Temperatures are warm and in the mid to upper 20's. It was a bit rugged on the ridges yesterday morning with southerly winds blowing in the 50's, but they relaxed in the late afternoon and have been blowing in the teens and low 20's since about 3:00 PM Thursday. Recent winds damaged lots of snow in the high alpine bowls, but yesterday's thin coat of white paint will go a long way to help smooth things out and provide a little cushion, especially on low angle slopes.

Above is hourly data from Trial Lake (9,945') and Windy Peak (10,662'). To view more regional weather stations click here.

Additional Info

A weak weather system brings a round of snow late this afternoon through tonight. Temperatures rise into the mid 30's and west-southwest winds blow in the 50's by about dinnertime.

The pattern remains active Friday into the upcoming weekend with a good shot of snow slated for Saturday night and Sunday.

General Announcements

The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:00 AM Friday March 1st, 2019.

If you're getting out and about, please let me know what you're seeing especially if you see or trigger and avalanche. I can be reached at [email protected] or 801-231-2170

It's also a good time to set up one of our very popular avalanche awareness classes. Reach out to me and I'll make it happen.

This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done. This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

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