Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains - Utah Avalanche Center

Forecast for the Uintas Area Mountains

Issued by Trent Meisenheimer on
Monday morning, March 21, 2016

In the wind zone at and above treeline, a MODERATE avalanche danger exists and human triggered avalanches are possible on steep, wind drifted slopes, especially those that face the north half of the compass. Any slide that breaks to old snow near the ground has the potential to break deeper and wider than you might expect and can quickly ruin your day.

Out of the wind the avalanche danger is generally LOW.

Low

Moderate

Considerable

High

Extreme

Learn how to read the forecast here

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Weather and Snow

Clear skies this morning ahead of a good looking storm system. It's a balmy start to the day and current Temperatures are in the low to mid 30's at most trailheads. Southwest winds picked up overnight and are blowing 20-30 mph gusting into 40's at high elevations. The sun was strong yesterday leaving behind a crust on most of the sunny aspects. However, cold, dry powder can still be found on the shady (north) half of the compass.

* Our weather network is currently down and wind totals are a bit of a guess. Been looking at other stations near by for an estimate of wind speed and direction. It's not a mystery however, as the day progresses winds become stronger out of the southwest as a storm approaches the state.

It's been a great few days in the Uinta mountains with plenty of sunshine and powder snow. (Photo: Mirror Lake area)

Uinta weather station network info is found here.

Trip reports and observations are found here.

Recent Avalanches

No new avalanche activity was reported from the Uinta backcountry yesterday.

Check out this close call from the Logan area mountains. Forecasters Toby & Paige Weed put together the accident report found here their video is below.

Recent avalanche observations are found here

See or trigger an avalanche? Shooting cracks? Hear a collapse? It's simple. Go here to fill out an observation.

Type

Location

Likelihood

Size

Description

Very warm temperatures over the past few days have helped our snowpack settle and become stronger. While generally manageable in size, a rogue slab on a steep, leeward slope in the wind zone, could take you for a ride and let you know who is boss. You'll find these wind slabs in upper elevation terrain facing mainly northwest through southeast in aspect. Simply avoid fat, rounded pieces of snow, especially if they sound hollow like a drum.

Don't forget that shallow snowpack areas still exist and there is still a chance for triggering an avalanche that breaks to old weak snow. Steep, upper elevation, north facing slopes, especially those with a thin, weak snowpack need to be carefully evaluated or better yet, simply avoid terrain with these characteristics.

Ted Scroggin with a great photo of a cornice that fell naturally and triggered a small wind slab that left a decent pile of debris. Read the rest of his observation here. Cornices have grown quite large the past few days and may break back further than you might expect. Best to avoid being on or underneath these boxcar sized pieces of snow.

Additional Information

Warm, gusty conditions will last throughout the day as a storm approaches the state. Clear skies this morning will rapidly turn into a thick blanket of clouds as the southwest winds increase. Temperatures will climb into the 40's and 50's again today before dropping off into the 20's overnight. The storm should arrive tomorrow (Tuesday) by sunrise. The winds will shift to the northwest, temperatures will drop and it will start to snow. This should be a great refresher for the Uinta mountains with 6-12 inches of new snow expected by late Wednesday.

General Announcements

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory by submitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can call me directly at 801-231-2170, email [email protected], or email by clicking HERE If Craig is unavailable you can reach his partner Trent at 801-455-7239, email [email protected]

This is a great time of year to schedule a free avalanche awareness presentation for your group or club. You can contact me at 801-231-2170 or email [email protected]. To register for the first in our series of on-the-snow sled specific classes you can register here.

The information in this advisory is from the US Forest Service which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:00 AM on Tuesday, March 20th.

Forecast for the Uintas Area Mountains

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