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Forecast for the Uintas Area Mountains

Craig Gordon
Issued by Craig Gordon on
Monday morning, October 16, 2023
Welcome back.... I missed you!
Thanks for checking in and stay tuned... we’ll issue updates as conditions warrant. Regular forecasts and danger ratings are weather dependent, though often start in early December.
PLEASE REMEMBER - I know we're stoked to see early season snow, but once we start stacking flakes on the ground we need to remember- if there's enough snow to ride... there's enough snow to slide. Early season avy conditions are often tricky and certainly dangerous. Of note was a “day of madness” on November 13, 2011 when the wheels didn't just wobble, they completely came off the bus! Read more here and listen to the podcast so we don’t repeat our history.
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
Learn how to read the forecast here
Special Announcements
Sign up for the 16th Annual Utah Snow and Avalanche Workshop (USAW) IN PERSON, November 4th at the Dejoria Center in Kamas, UT. Sign up and get more info HERE.
The Professional Snow and Avalanche Workshop (PROSAW) will be November 6th at the Dejoria Center in Kamas, UT. Sign up and get more info HERE.
Weather and Snow
Last weeks storm steered towards the North Slope, blanketing the high country with just about 6" of snow (nearly half as much as the Cottonwoods). Ted and I worked on the Duchesne Ridge weather station Sunday and noted snow and water totals diminish markedly the further south you move through the western Uinta's. The big picture is... high pressure camps out overhead, delivering warm, dry weather, evaporating our thin layer of early season snow. In other words, it's becoming spotty and not particularly contiguous... which, this early in the season is a good thing! Peering into the weather forecast crystal ball, other than a little dip in temperatures early in the week, it looks pretty quiet on the weather front.
Looking towards Roundy Basin, patches of white drape slopes facing the north half of the compass, but it's sorta spotty, moth-eaten, and not particularly uniform.
Sunny slopes like Tower Mountain have melted back to their pre-winter, late autumn coats.
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Additional Information
It’s never too early to start thinking about avalanches. Here's a few things to add to your cerebral post it note to-do list:
  1. Attend USAW and learn more about avalanches and decision-making.
  2. Sign up for an avalanche class.
  3. Take a free online avalanche course the UAC built for Know Before You Go or other courses listed on the KBYG website (Develop skills -> Online Learning).
  4. Get your avalanche rescue gear ready for winter. Put fresh batteries in your transceiver and update the firmware. Inspect your shovel and probe. Get your airbag backpack ready by possibly doing a test deployment and updating the firmware if it is an electric version.