Bulletin d’avalanche

Uintas

Utah Avalanche Center
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Danger d’avalanche

  • Alpin
  • Limite forestière
  • Sous la limite forestière
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Périmé — ce bulletin a expiré 8 months ago. Vous consultez des conditions passées, pas le bulletin en cours.

Points saillants

Most slopes offer generally LOW avalanche danger this morning, increasing to MODERATE avalanche hazard as today's storm materializes. Fresh drifts will react to our additional weight and human triggered avalanches are POSSIBLE particularlyon the leeward side of mid and upper elevation ridges. Note to self... today's fresh drifts form on a slick Christmas Eve raincrust and once initiated, may run faster and further than we might expect.

Also, while not widespread, human triggered avalanches, breaking two to four feet deep are still POSSIBLE, especially on steep, rocky, upper elevation slopes where a hard, dense slab sits above multiple persistent weak layers.

Problèmes avalancheux

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpin
    • Limite forestière
    • Sous la limite forestière
    Probabilité
    Possible
    Taille
    2

    A 24 hour data dump from Windy Peak (10,662') illustrates recent trends for wind and crashing temperatures.

    Fresh drifts are easy to detect by their fat, rounded appearance and easy to avoid, by losing some elevation and steering towards wind sheltered terrain. The wild card is... recent drifts rest on a slick Christmas Eve rain crust that provides a resistance free surface for avalanches to run on, and that means today's avalanches might pack a little more punch than you'd expect.

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpin
    • Limite forestière
    • Sous la limite forestière
    Probabilité
    Unlikely
    Taille
    2

    Trevor and Noahs pit profile in Mill Hollow reveals a reactive layer (ECTP19) failing on early December snow.

    From record warm temperatures to a good shot of rain followed by rapid cooling, our snowpack has been yanked all over the map in just 48 hours. Sure, weird weather makes for weird snowpacks, but I'm taking the glass half full route and thinking... short-term pain, long term gain. Yeah, Christmas Eve was a mess, but my hunch is that the moist snow in our midpack and near the ground is going to welcome the colder temperatures, lock up, and become comfortable in its own skin. However, this is an unusual setup for us and I'm gonna proceed with, it's a guilty snowpack until proven otherwise approach and continue gathering more information before submitting a verdict.

    For now, I suspect you could still trigger a slide that breaks deeper and wider than you might expect, especially on steep, rocky slope , facing the north half of the compass.

    Looking into the future... raincrusts in the snowpack are a bad deal and I'm not psyched with this setup. In fact, some of the bigger train-wrecks we've had in the western Uinta's involve a raincrust/faceted snow/slab trifecta. Let's not take our eyes of this one.

Recent Activity

No new avalanche activity to report, but click on the button below for a look into the history of this seasons events.

View All Observations Here

Snow and Weather

Nowcast - A cold front swept through the region overnight delivering temperatures in the teens and mid 20's °F along with a shallow coat of medium density white paint... just an inch, maybe double that in favored areas. Winds finally relaxed at the turn of the new day and currently blow 15-25 mph from the southwest along the high ridges.

Forecast - Look for mostly cloudy skies, while winds blowing in the 20's switch to the west and northwest, ushering in a quick shot of snow before sunrise... perhaps we squeak an additional 3-6 inches out of this impulse. Expect a midday break and another round of snow late in the day as temperatures climb into the upper 20's°F. I'm still optimistic for a foot of snow by the time all the Who's in Whoville call it a day. Very cold air overnight craters temperatures into the single digits.

Futurecast - A few lingering snow showers are on tap for Sunday with a drying and warming trend slated to kick off the work week.

Visit Here For Additional Weather Information

Travel Conditions - You shoulda been here yesterday! After braving a rough start and an international hazmat incident while fueling up in Kamas, our intrepid travelers Noah and Trevor, forged into the upper reaches of Mill Hollow and were rewarded with a stout raincrust all the way up to the high peaks. Their all-time Christmas outing and most excellent trip report is found HERE.

Vehicle access to Mirror Lake Highway (HW150) and Bald mountain Pass is shut down, while SR-35 (Wolf Creek Pass) remains open.

Additional Info

This fleet can't be beat! Huge thanks to Ski-Doo in partnership with Karl Malone's Plaza Cycle, for arranging our sled, loaner program. This vital state-wide partnership gets sleds into the hands of UAC forecasters, allowing us to see more terrain, gather more snowpack information, and issue more accurate avalanche forecasts. Ultimately, this program helps us save lives!

General Announcements

We have some upcoming classes and events that we would 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 Saturday, December 27th 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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