Bollettino valanghe

Uintas

Utah Avalanche Center
Vedi sulla mappa

Pericolo valanghe

  • Alta quota
  • Limite del bosco
  • Sotto il limite del bosco
Open full map
Non aggiornato — questo bollettino è scaduto 6 years ago. Stai vedendo condizioni passate, non il bollettino in corso.

In sintesi

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.

Problemi valanghivi

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alta quota
    • Limite del bosco
    • Sotto il limite del bosco
    Probabilità
    Possible
    Dimensione
    3

    This is a dangerous setup in our snowpack because 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 like the one in the image above, 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.

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alta quota
    • Limite del bosco
    • Sotto il limite del bosco
    Probabilità
    Possible
    Dimensione
    2

    Yesterday's northeast winds shifted to the northwest late in the day and have been busy along the high ridges, creating unusual drifting patterns in leeward terrain near the high peaks. Problem is, some slopes are completely worked and resemble 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 yesterday 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.

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

Snow and Weather

Nowcast-

Under a big, bright, beautiful, "Cold moon", skies are clear and temperatures dipped in the single digits overnight where they register this morning. Northerly winds hum along in the 20's and 30's 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 about two feet in depth, the Uinta's are still quite thin and travel is sorta limited to road rides and grassy slopes.

Forecast-

A stunning day is on tap with mostly sunny skies, decreasing winds, and high temperatures climbing into the upper 20's.

Futurecast-

An active pattern sets up through next week with progressively stronger storms on tap. A weak storm slides into the region for Thursday, delivering a few inches of snow, a break for Friday and Saturday with another system slated for Sunday and a good 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, Thursday December 31st.

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.

Regioni coperte