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Forecast for the Uintas Area Mountains

Craig Gordon
Issued by Craig Gordon on
Sunday morning, January 19, 2020
Heads up... we've got the perfect setup for avalanches to break on weak snow near the ground, resulting in a dangerously large and quite possibly unsurvivable slide that will instantly ruin your day. So... let's not lose our minds today over some fresh snow and bright sunshine. Instead, let's think about having a great day, high fives at the trailhead, and getting back home to our families.
In upper elevation terrain in the wind zone, deceptively tricky avalanche conditions exist on steep, wind drifted slopes, especially those with an easterly component to its aspect. CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger exists in terrain with these characteristics and human triggered avalanches are LIKELY.
In addition, recent winds drifted snow onto steep, leeward, mid elevation slopes where a MODERATE avalanche danger exists and human triggered avalanches are POSSIBLE. Once triggered, today's drifts may break deeper and wider than you might expect.
Your exit strategy... give the storm snow a minute or two to settle and gain strength. Generally LOW avalanche danger is found on wind sheltered, low and mid elevation slopes with no steep terrain above or adjacent to where you're riding.
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
Learn how to read the forecast here
Special Announcements
We are very sad to report an avalanche fatality that happened yesterday above Farmington Canyon. A 18 year old, male snowmobiler was caught, fully buried and killed. Preliminary info available HERE. We will re-visit the scene today and have a full report available in the coming days. Our deepest condolences go out to the friends, family, rescuers, and everyone affected by this tragic accident.
Weather and Snow
Currently-
Skies are clear, temperatures register in the mid teens, and northerly winds are light, blowing just 10-20 mph along the high ridges. With total snow depths hovering right around 60", coverage across the range is all time. And while sunny slopes took on some heat yesterday, riding and turning conditions remain quite good, especially on wind and sun sheltered slopes.
Uinta weather network info is found here. Simply click on the Western Uinta tab.
For today-
Expect high, thin clouds drifting across the region today as high pressure takes hold for a short-lived visit. Temperatures climb into the 30's with overnight lows dipping into the teens. Winds remain reasonably light, blowing less than 25 mph along the high ridges.
Futurecast-
Moisture increases beginning tonight, resulting in overcast conditions. Expect cloudy skies through midweek as a series of weak systems pass overhead. Winds trend higher with a notable drop in temperatures during this period. Best chance of light snow is late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
Recent Avalanches
Busy times on the eastern front with multiple human triggered avalanches reported Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
With a little coercing yesterday, the avalanche in the image above broke deep and wide, failing on weak snow near the ground, producing a large volume of snow which stacked up a huge pile of debris. While many slopes are good to go, steep terrain facing the north half of the compass just need a trigger like us to roll up and knock the legs out from underneath. PLEASE... DON'T LET THAT TRIGGER BE YOU.
To view additional trip reports and recent avalanche activity, simply click here.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Today, we can still trigger a deep, dangerous slide like the one in the image above triggered early this week on the south half of the range.
It's been a great run and we've stacked up an impressive amount of snow in the past two weeks. However, the trifecta of storm snow, water weight, and winds formed a dense, connected slab on the leeward side of mid and upper elevation ridges. Complicating matters is this... all the fresh snow is gonna ride deep and the pre-existing snow surface it fell on is gonna feel strong underneath us. Now here's the problem... we've gotta think not only about the snow we're riding in, but also the snow we're riding on and all of this additional weight is stressing weak layers buried in the snowpack, bringing them back to life... and these layers are WOKE!
Muddying the waters even further is that some slopes have either avalanched, but are now covered over with fresh snow making that trend hard to detect, or they've adjusted to the additional weight and are good to go. The tricky part is that other slopes just wait for us to roll along and knock the legs out from underneath. And here's the danger... once initiated, often low on the slope, avalanches have a distinct possibility of breaking much deeper and wider than you might expect.
With all the great riding right now there's no reason to pull on the dogs tail today. It's a long season and the snow needs time to adjust. Be patient for the next couple of days and simply stay off of and out from under steep wind drifted slopes
Avalanche Problem #2
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Cornices are a great indicator to recent winds and this year they're massive and have the potential to break back further than you might expect.
Winds were all over the map during and right after this weeks storm and they've been loading terrain in unusual locations and depositing snow further down-slope than we usually expect to see. Yep... winds changed the landscape and have created tricky avalanche conditions. While becoming more stubborn over time, once initiated, today's drifts will break deeper and wider than you might expect, creating a slide that quickly gets out of hand. Your best bet for avoidance is to simply steer clear of any fat, rounded piece of snow, especially if it sounds hollow like a drum.
Additional Information
Thanks to the generous support of our Utah ski resorts and Ski Utah, we have discount lift tickets available. All proceeds support the UAC. Get your tickets HERE.
Get one of these cool t-shirts to support the UAC and other avalanche centers across the U.S. INFO
General Announcements
The information in this forecast expires in 24 hours, but will be updated by 7:00 AM Monday Jan. 20th.
This forecast is updated daily by 7:00 AM.
In the mean-time, 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
It'll be a minute or two before we're riding, but while you're waiting....
This is a great time of year to schedule one of our free avy awareness presentations.
You can email me directly [email protected]
The information in this forecast is from the US Forest Service which is solely responsible for its content.
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