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Forecast for the Uintas Area Mountains

Craig Gordon
Issued by Craig Gordon for
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
While not widespread and making up a small portion of the terrain available to ride today, in the wind zone, at and above treeline, you'll find CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger. Human triggered avalanches are LIKELY on steep wind drifted slopes, especially those facing the north half of the compass and particularly those with an easterly component to their aspect. Any avalanche that breaks into deeper buried weak layers near the ground will result in a deep, dangerous slide.
A MODERATE avalanche danger exists on steep, mid elevation, wind drifted slopes and human triggered avalanches are POSSIBLE.
Safer riding alternatives exist on low angle, lower elevation, wind sheltered slopes with no steep slopes above or adjacent to where you're riding. In terrain with these characteristics you'll find generally LOW avalanche danger and human triggered avalanches are UNLIKELY.
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
Learn how to read the forecast here
Special Announcements
The accident reports for the four avalanche fatalities are all finalized with some first-hand accounts and worth reading. We all have something to learn so that we can get home safely to our loved ones.
Jan 18 Electric Lake Accident (Skyline area)
Jan 25 Laurel Peak Accident (Moab area)
Feb 7 Circleville Mtn Accident (Southwest area near Beaver, UT)
Feb 9 Chalk Creek Accident (Western Uintas)
Many thanks to these fine gentlemen for helping to install our Beacon Basin on the north end of the Nobletts parking lot. While you're in the hood and waiting for your partner or group, you can keep warm and test your avalanche beacon rescue skills at the same time.... your partners will be stoked.
Weather and Snow
High, thin clouds drift through the region this morning, temperatures are in the low 20's, and southerly winds continue cranking in the 30's and 40's along the high ridges.
Above is hourly data from Trial Lake (9,945') and Windy Peak (10,662'). To view more regional weather stations click here.
Check out Bill and Jason's remarkably detailed ob from their upper elevation travels on Sunday found here.
JG was in the alpine Monday and reports that riding and turning conditions took a big hit and our nearly epic run with soft powder has come to a screeching halt as recent winds and warm temperatures have had their way with a vast amount big open terrain. However, in between old tracks and wind-jacked snow, and with a little out-of-the-box travel plan, I think you'll still be able to find patches of soft, settled snow on wind sheltered mid and low elevation, shady slopes.
Recent Avalanches
Breaking about a foot deep and 150' wide, Cody and Dave were able to pop out this stiff wind slab yesterday, on an upper elevation shady slope in Whitney Basin. (Hughes image)
And on Monday, winds produced shallow, yet surprisingly connected, natural avalanches on steep, upper elevation leeward slopes facing the north half of the compass. (Finch images)
Recent trip reports and avy activity found HERE.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
The images above illustrate a tale of two snowpacks.
The top image is a slide triggered Sunday with a good thump on an upper elevation, southerly facing slope which has remained shallow and weak this season. No es bueno.
The next image shows a deep, strong snowpack that's happy in its own skin.
So here's the deal- we've got a complicated snowpack structure, but without further investigation or an intimate history of the terrain, it'll all look white to us. The problem is, there's several persistent weaknesses buried deep in the pack and these are a concerning because anything "persistent" in the world of snow is slow to heal. While deep dangerous avalanches are becoming harder to trigger, recent avalanches breaking to the ground suggest all we need to do is find a shallow, weak portion of the snowpack, perhaps around a rock or bush that we can't see underneath the snow, collapse the slope (whoomph), and now we're staring down the barrel of a dangerous avalanche. This type of snow structure is particularly dangerous because we don't even have to be on a steep slope in order to trigger a slide... we just need to be connected to it. And here's the deceiving twist, the range is fat and white and the snowpack is gonna feel really strong and supportable. As a matter of fact, we can ride many slopes without incident and think we're good to go.
However, the key to a successful day of riding means avoiding bulls-eye terrain where unmanageable avalanche dragons live, and it's pretty straight-forward. The common theme for all the big avalanches we've seen recently have occurred on steep, upper elevation, wind drifted slopes facing the north half of the compass, along with slopes that avalanched earlier this season and have a shallow snowpack.
Avalanche Problem #2
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
While it feels like we're starting to run out of snow available for transport, it never ceases to amaze me how the Uinta range can find snow, channel it through terrain features, and form dense, stiff drifts. Remember- wind was invented in the Uinta's and it can quickly change the landscape, ruin vast amounts of soft snow, and whip up fresh drifts sensitive to our additional weight. While today's wind drifts are found mostly along the leeward side of mid and upper elevation ridges, like in the image above, drifts also formed around terrain features like chutes or gullies. In any case, today you'll want to look for and avoid any fat, rounded piece of snow, especially if it sounds hollow like a drum. (Earle image)
Avalanche Problem #3
Cornice
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
After a brief sabbatical, winds are back to work, busily creating additional layers of cornice that may break back further than you might expect. And remember- several large, recent avalanches have been triggered with cornice fall. You definitely wanna give these large, unpredictable pieces of snow a wide berth and not ruin someones day below by inadvertently knocking a boxcar size piece of snow down on them.
A piece of cornice releasing naturally, rolled down onto the slope below sometime early Sunday morning, triggering this large slide that broke to weak snow near the ground. Approx 8' deep, 200' wide, and running 800' vertically, this avalanche occurred on a NE aspect at 10,300' at the upper reaches of Mill Fork of Chalk Creek. (Nalli images)
Additional Information
Clouds increase late in the day as a weak system clips the northern half of the state producing an inch or two snow. Temperatures remain mild with highs reaching into the mid 30's. West and southwest winds are gonna blow strong along the high ridges with gusts in the 50's. Another system is on tap for Thursday night and Friday with a stronger, colder storm slated for the weekend.
General Announcements
The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:00 AM Thursday February 28th, 2019.
If you're getting out and about, please let me know what you're seeing especially if you see or trigger and avalanche. I can be reached at [email protected] or 801-231-2170
It's also a good time to set up one of our very popular avalanche awareness classes. Reach out to me and I'll make it happen.
This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done. This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.
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