Uintas

Overall, we are off to a great start and avalanches are generally unlikely. However, with a few days of elevated winds and last week's snow available for transport, I'd still be on the lookout for stubborn wind drifts on upper-elevation slopes and terrain features that allow for drifting snow, like ridgelines, sub-ridges, and gullies. Step out cautiously and continue practicing safe travel by avoiding steep, upper-elevation terrain, especially slopes facing the north half of the compass.

A few things to remember:

• Triggering any avalanche regardless of its size can produce serious trauma even if it doesn't bury you because the snowpack is so thin.
• Hitting rocks and stumps is a real danger. Don't end your season before it starts with an injury from hitting one of these obstacles.
• Early-season avalanches are a real possibility. It doesn't matter if you are hiking, hunting, skiing, etc., be prepared with the correct rescue gear and a partner.

We will be issuing intermittent updates and publishing backcountry observations as they arrive. When we begin regular forecasts, we will begin issuing avalanche danger ratings.

Mirror Lake Highway is closed for the season. SR-35 (Wolf Creek Pass) remains open.

On November 12th, Micheal J remotely triggered a sizeable piece of snow in the NW-facing bowl of Wolf Creek. Breaking 16" deep x 200' wide, the hard wind slab broke on a thin layer of faceted snow formed 11/3, right before the big storm.

Find Micheal J's thoughts and more information on this slide HERE.

This morning, the skies are mostly clear. Mountain temperatures are currently in the single digits F. Over the last 12 hours, the north-northeasterly winds have averaged 15-25 mph at mid-elevations, with some gusts above 40 mph at the uppermost elevation.

Today, skies will remain clear and temperatures should climb into the upper teens F. Winds will remain north-northeasterly averaging 10-20 mph at mid-elevations with gusts up to 30 mph at the highest ridgelines.

Looking ahead, high pressure should remain over the area for most of the week bringing clear skies and cold temps. Some precipitation could come in closer to the weekend.

Yesterday, I got out in the Wolf Creek Pass Zone. You can find the full observations HERE. Right now we are seeing a wide variety of snow surfaces, including surface hoar (flat crystals 3-5 mm, needles 3 mm) and soft snow in non-wind-affected areas, and a thin wind crust in wind-affected areas. We are also beginning to see complex layering within the snowpack. With dry weather on the horizon this complex, yet shallow snowpack has begun to weaken under the cold/clear skies through a process known as “faceting”. While this wouldn't immediately be a concern, once we get a large load of snow on top of it, the weak faceted snow will become a weak layer.

This upcoming period of dry weather will be a great opportunity to take note and begin mapping the variability and surfaces that are currently covering the range, as that will soon enough become the base of our snowpack for the season.

Large surface hoar near Wolf Creek Pass.

Folks have been getting out, and looking at terrain find their insightful observations and trip reports are found HERE.

And we've been super busy this summer upgrading the western Uinta weather station network and this real-time info is found HERE (click weather stations, and then on the Western Uinta tab)

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

Before it gets too crazy, now is the time to book an avalanche awareness presentation for your group, club, or posse. You can reach Craig directly at 801-231-2170 or [email protected].

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.