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Out of date — this forecast expired 6 years ago.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

Heads up... deceptively tricky avalanche danger is found in the western Uinta's-

In the wind zone, at and above treeline, you'll find pockets of CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger. Human triggered avalanches are LIKELY on steep, wind drifted slopes. Steep terrain facing the north half of the compass, and particularly slopes with an easterlycomponent to its aspect are most suspect and should be avoided.

Mid elevations offer MODERATE avalanche danger on steep slopes facing the north half of the compass and human triggered avalanches are POSSIBLE.

In either case, once triggered, today's avalanches may break deeper and wider than you might expect.

LOW avalanche danger is found on mid and low elevation slopes, particularly those facing south, but snow cover is super thin.

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    3

    Mark Staples and Steve Martin rode out of Whitney Basin Tuesday and offer some great early season advice, posted in the viddy above.

    Every slope I walked on yesterday responded with big, booming collapses, and cracks shooting everywhere, suggesting we've got a dangerous setup in our snowpack and we don't need to be on steep slopes in order to trigger avalanches.... we just need to be connected to them. And while the light, fluffy, surface snow doesn't feel very threatening, we've gotta think not only about the snow we're riding in, but also the snow we're riding on. Now here's the setup. The snowpack foundation mirrors an upside-down cake... think, stronger snow on weaker snow. This type of layering leads to tricky avalanche conditions because our snowpack needs a trigger like us to roll along and knock the legs out from underneath. And yes, we can trigger slides from a distance or from adjacent slopes, and this is the type of avalanche dragon where we can pull the entire log pile down on top of us, even if we're playing on low angle terrain. All we need is to be connected to steep terrain above us. And once triggered, today's avalanches may break wider and deeper than you might expect

    But you don't have to ride blind... so, tweak small test slopes, looking for and listening to signs of unstable snow like whoomping sounds and sudden collapses of the snowpack or shooting cracks in front of your skis, board, or sled. And of course the biggest clue of all... recent avalanches, especially on the same types of slopes you wanna ride on.

    JG submitted a beautiful snow profile from his travels yesterday which sums up the current structure of our snowpack. He's also got a great ob with some sage insight on how to travel given the sketchy conditions found here.

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    2

    Yesterday we found that with a little coaxing, fresh wind drifts are big enough to knock you off your feet, taking you for a long and possibility unexpected ride downslope.

    Recent winds have been all over the compass leaving some slopes resembling a moonscape, while other slopes look very inviting with a little fresh snow, camouflaging recent drifts, making them harder to detect. So... let's think like the snowpack and consider the most likely place we'll stumble onto recent drifts is on the leeward side of upper elevation ridges. But, since winds were all over the compass late in the weekend, terrain features like chutes and gullies may be cross-loaded and should be considered suspect. In either case, it's an easy and mostly manageable avalanche problem to avoid by simply steering clear of any fat, rounded piece of snow, particularly if it sounds hollow like a drum. And remember... our snowpack is super shallow and triggering even a small slide can take you for a body-bruising ride through rocks and stumps barely hidden under the thin snowpack.

Special Announcement

A small, yet dangerous slide triggered late Sunday in the Wolf Creek Bowl is easily seen by the side of the road. I took a look... click here for more info.

You know the program... roadside attractions are still an easy grab and just 'cause you can see it from the car doesn't mean it's safe or you're good to go. And remember, our front-line health care workers are maxed out. So, let's collectively think about our decisions and the consequences that may have on others.

Thanks to the generous support of our local resorts, Ski Utah, and Backcountry, discount lift tickets are now available. Support the UAC while you ski at the resorts this season. Tickets are available here.

Drew Hardesty has an excellent new blog post. Managing Risk with Avalanches, Managing Risk with a Pandemic - A Conversation with state epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn

Stream here or tune in wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

Recent Activity

Mark was in the Gold Hill area Tuesday and discovered this large slide. We suspect it was likely triggered by a moose, but the jury is still out- however, this avalanche is a major heads up of things to come once the winter switch gets turned on. More on Mark's travels and great insight found here.

I was on the south half of the range, whilst Mark went north. In either case both of us experienced lots of collapses and shooting cracks which continued as I stomped around yesterday.

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

Snow and Weather

Nowcast-

High clouds streamed into the area late yesterday and continued thickening overnight, producing a stray snow shower or two. Temperatures are in the teens and southwest winds blow 10-20 mph along the high ridges. Monday's thin coat of white paint goes a long way, with a few inches of fresh snow helping conditions slowly improve. But with total snow depths averaging just over two feet in depth, the Uinta's are still quite thin and travel is sorta limited to road rides and grassy slopes.

Forecast-

We can expect mostly cloudy skies with a few traces of snow throughout the day as weak storm clips northern Utah. Westerly winds remain reasonable, blowing 15-25 mph along the ridges with a few gusts in the 30's near the high peaks. Skies clear late in the day and overnight lows dip into the single digits.

Futurecast-

An active pattern sets up through next week with progressively stronger storms on tap. A break for Friday and most of Saturday with another system slated for early Sunday and a better shot of snow and water midweek of the New Year.

Looking for real-time temps, snow, or wind?

Click here and then on the "western Uinta" tab for western Uinta specific, weather station network.

Additional Info

Two weeks ago, I rolled up to a fresh avalanche and found Utah Snowmobile Association president, Cal Taylor, investigating the slide and performing a mock rescue with his riding partner Mike Davis. In the video above, Cal has some sage advice for our riding community.

I'll update this forecast by 7:00 AM tomorrow, Friday January 1st.

Your observations are import, so please let me know what you're seeing... click HERE and contribute to this amazing community based program

General Announcements

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 or [email protected]

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

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