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Forecast for the Uintas Area Mountains

Craig Gordon
Issued by Craig Gordon on
Wednesday morning, December 11, 2019
In the wind zone at upper elevations, MODERATE avalanche danger exists on upper elevation slopes facing the north half of the compass. Human triggered avalanches are POSSIBLE, particularly on steep, rocky slopes harboring weak, pre-existing snow. Remember- any avalanche that breaks to old snow near the ground may quickly get out of hand, resulting in a deep and dangerous slide.
Both new and old wind slabs may react to our additional weight and could break a little deeper and wider than you might expect. Along the leeward side of upper elevation ridges and around terrain features like chutes and gullies, you'll find a MODERATE avalanche danger. Human triggered avalanches breaking within recently formed wind drifts are possible.
Here's your exit strategy-
Wind sheltered low elevation terrain that held no old snow prior to the Thanksgiving storm generally offers LOW avalanche danger and human triggered avalanches are unlikely. South facing terrain with no old snow and big open meadows with no steep terrain above or adjacent to where you're riding are the ticket.
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
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Special Announcements
Please join me on Friday Dec. 13th at 6:30 for a free avalanche awareness presentation in partnership with Wasatch County SAR. It's guaranteed to be entertaining, informative, and I'll share safety tips that allow you to rip powder safely and come home to your families at the end of the day.... pretty good deal... huh?
Weather and Snow
This morning-
Skies remained clear overnight and temperatures dipped into the low and mid 20's. Southerly winds began bumping into the upper 20's early this morning as a weakening weather disturbance moves through the region later today. No new snow since the Sunday storm which laid down an evenly distributed 8" of dense, spongy snow. Overall coverage is quite good, especially in the high country where total snow depths average just under three feet.
For today-
Look for increasing clouds, wind, and a scattered snow shower or two. High temperatures rise into the mid 30's and west-southwest winds blow in the mid 30's along the high ridges, decreasing as the day wares on.
Future cast-
After a short break in snow later tonight through early Thursday, a series of weather disturbances bring an extended period of snow to the northern Utah Thursday afternoon through Saturday.
Click here for more real time Uinta winds, temperatures, and snow depth.
Recent Avalanches
No new avalanche activity to report from the eastern front, but weekend news from the Logan area is found below-
Two riders were caught and carried, and one of them was partially buried in an avalanche just north of the Idaho State Line on Saturday afternoon. Here's the report.
Ad
Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
It doesn't feel like Sunday's storm was enough additional weight needed to wake up our problem child, a persistent weak layer of snow, now buried close to the ground in our early season snowpack. And while it's been nearly a week since we've heard from this layer of snow, in reality little has changed on this front and that's why it's call "persistent". You see, anything "persistent" in a snowpack takes a long time to heal and that's where it gets a little tricky. As the weak layers grow slightly stronger and get comfortable in their own skin, you can ride some steep slopes, often without incident, giving us a false sense of snowpack stability. However, all we need to do is find one weakness, maybe around a bush or rock that we can't see buried underneath the snow, collapse the pack, and now we're staring down the barrel of a scary avalanche. The way I'm avoiding this scenario is by simply avoiding the terrain where this setup exists- steep, upper elevation, north facing slopes that harbored snow prior to the big Thanksgiving storm. With plenty of safe options, there's no reason to pull on the avalanche dragons tail.
But wait... here's the good news. There's a lot of terrain to ride today and not have to deal with unmanageable avalanche conditions, IF you chose slopes that had NO old snow prior to the big Thanksgiving storm.
I stomped around the North Slope yesterday and my pit profile above clearly shows our current setup.
My snowpit stability tests suggest a strengthening snowpack (good news), but failures continue to revolve around weak, basal snow (bad news). What this means is... it might be harder to initiate a slide, but the piece of snow you trigger will dangerously break to the ground.
Knowing where the weak snow exists is the ticket. Taking our own advice, yesterday my partner and I simply steered clear of upper elevation, shady slopes facing the north half of the compass, got out on sunny slopes with no old snow, and still had a blast.
Avalanche Problem #2
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
I didn't find yesterday's wind drifts particularly sensitive, but the Uinta's are a huge range and we might still find a wind drift or two that'll react to our additional weight. Found mostly on upper elevation leeward slopes, I expect there's a few pockets of dense snow cross-loaded in terrain features like chutes or gullies. Your best bet for avoidance is to simply steer clear of any fat, rounded piece of snow, especially if it looks chalky or sounds hollow like a drum. In addition, look for and listen to clues like whoomphing sounds or shooting cracks in the snow which are sure signs of unstable conditions.
Additional Information
Huge thanks to Weller's Recreation in partnership with Ski-Doo for generously providing this years loaner sled. This critical piece of gear allows us to get deeper into the same places our customers ride, giving us to the ability to issue more accurate forecasts, which, of course, ultimately saves more lives!
General Announcements
The information in this forecast expires in 24 hours, but will be updated by 7:30 AM Thursday Dec. 12th.
This forecast is updated daily by 7:30 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.