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Forecast for the Uintas Area Mountains

Craig Gordon
Issued by Craig Gordon on
Thursday morning, March 23, 2023
Think... not only about the snow you're riding in, but also the snow you're riding on.
CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger exists on steep, rocky, upper elevation, leeward slopes. Human triggered avalanches are LIKELY on drifted slopes in the wind zone above treeline. Terrain facing the north half of the compass, especially steep slopes with an easterly component to its aspect have the potential to produce avalanches that'll pack a punch and easily roll you. MODERATE avalanche danger is found near treeline and human triggered avalanches are POSSIBLE on steep slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow.
Today's exit strategy... you can have a blast and score soft, surfy snow and LOW avalanche danger on mid and lower elevation, wind sheltered terrain with no overhead hazard.
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
Learn how to read the forecast here
Special Announcements
Big thanks go out to Tim Overy from Evanston Fire Department and Deputy Aaron Hutchinson with Uinta county SAR for opening your doors and inviting me to present to your organizations last night. It was a huge honor and myself along with the entire community are collectively grateful for all your hard work and dedication, keeping our families safe.
Weather and Snow
Nowcast- Last nights storm delivered a nice coat of white paint, quickly stacking up an evenly distributed 3" snow with .30" H2O. Yet another piece of energy is marching towards the Uinta's as I type at o'dark thirty and that should pile up an additional 2"-4" of snow by the time you're sipping your morning beverage. Under mostly cloudy skies, temperatures register in the teens and low 20's. Winds are light and westerly, blowing 10-20 mph along the high ridges. With a deep, robust, go-anywhere base, riding and turning conditions are about as good as they get.
Forecast- Occasional snow showers continue through this evening and could be briefly heavy at times. Look for mostly cloudy skies with temperatures climbing into the mid 20's. West-southwest winds blow in the 20's with a few gusts in the 30's clipping the high ridges.
Futurecast- A cold front ushers in unseasonably crisp temperatures and snow levels to valley floors Friday morning into Friday afternoon. On and off snow along with very cold temperatures are on tap for the weekend with a break in the action Monday.
More unsettled weather heads our way manana.
Ted was in the Whitney Basin Tuesday and offers his sage advice and outstanding local knowledge in his trip report found HERE.
Detailed trip reports and recent obs are found HERE.
Recent Avalanches
An intriguing result from a large, tree breaking cornice as it crashes onto the slope below Tuesday in Upper Weber Canyon.
Plenty of avy activity to peruse if ya wanna geek out. Click HERE to track this years slide activity throughout the range.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
A 24 hour data dump from Windy Peak (10,662'), gives you solid beta of where recent winds loaded leeward terrain.
I think yesterday's wind drifts settled significanty overnight and won't be quite as reactive to our additional weight, but here's where it's gonna get tricky... last nights storm snow fell straight out of the sky and that'll hide yesterday's drifts, making them harder to detect. So... what's the strategy to manage the problem? Avoidance, of course! Yeah, simply steer clear of fat, rounded pieces of snow, especially if they sound hollow like a drum because I bet there's piece of snow out there that'll break deeper and wider than we might expect. Steep, rocky, upper elevation, wind drifted slopes facing the north half of the compass still feel suspect to me. Lose the wind and you lose the problem... there's plenty of great, wind sheltered riding out there on lower angle slopes, especially those with no overhead hazard.
Additional Information
Weather stations-
And... rime events from January's atmospheric rivers severely crippled the Uinta weather station network. I'm working to get it back up and running, but a few stations are found HERE (click weather stations, and then on the Western Uinta tab)
Over the weekend I visited our Currant Creek Snow site and of course... it was buried! I'm still trouble shooting comms and working to get everything back online.
Observations-
Your observations are important, so please let me know what you're seeing... click HERE and contribute to this amazing community-based program
General Announcements
Issued at 03:37 on Thursday March 23rd this forecast expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but will be updated by 07:00 Friday March 24th 2023.
Before it gets too crazy, now is the time to book an avalanche awareness presentation for your group, club, or posse. You can reach Craig directly at 801-231-2170 or [email protected].
This forecast is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This forecast describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.
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