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Forecast for the Uintas Area Mountains

Craig Gordon
Issued by Craig Gordon for
Saturday, March 25, 2023
Heads up... strong winds and a solid shot of storm snow maintains sketchy avalanche danger-
For today, you'll find HIGH avalanche danger on steep, rocky, upper elevation, leeward slopes. Both natural and human triggered avalanches are VERY 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 ruin your day. CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger is found near treeline and human triggered avalanches are LIKELY on steep slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. MODERATE avalanche danger is found at lower elevations and human triggered, storm snow avalanches are possible on steep slopes.
Looking for an exit strategy? Well, you came to the right place! You can have a blast and score deep, cold, surfy snow along with predictable avalanche danger in wind sheltered terrain with no overhead hazard.
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
Learn how to read the forecast here
Special Announcements
Thank you to everyone who donated to our Spring Campaign. We appreciate your support and look forward to creating new tools to help you stay safe in the backcountry.
Also... I am in the process of finalizing a report regarding the March 9th avalanche fatality in the Uinta's. Thank you for your patience... we will publish the final report in coming days.
Weather and Snow
Nowcast- March madness is the gift that keeps giving, but don't get fooled by the midcourt dribble that delivered 7" of snow near the trailheads, because it's the full court buzzer-beater with 24 hour snow totals stacking up 18" in the upper elevations that has the crowd on its feet! Yeah... storm totals are simply amazing! Along with the snow, strong westerly winds ramped into the 30's right around suppertime and continued in that spirit overnight, bumping into the 40's and 50's near the high ridges. Under mostly cloudy skies, a few snow showers linger and current temperatures are January-esque, registering in the teens down low and hovering near zero as you gain elevation. Throw in some windchill and you've toe numbing, diesel gelling temperatures clocking in at -30 degrees. You'll forget about the cold temps because with a record deep, robust, go-anywhere base, riding and turning conditions are all time.
Forecast- Look for mostly cloudy skies that wring out an additional 2"-4" of snow this morning, but in general the storm is moving east and we should see a clearing trend as the day progresses. It'll be rugged near the peaks where west-northwest winds blow in the 30's and temperatures don't vary much from where we're at this morning.
Futurecast- A break in the action is slated to round out the weekend and a beautiful day is on tap beginning the workweek.
You wanna rally? Well then don't forget to invite avy-savvy, Bill Nalli. A beautiful human who brings boat loads of stoke, a wealth of information, and an immense love for sharing the sport and the snowcraft :)
Detailed trip reports and recent obs are found HERE.
Recent Avalanches
Milk jug visibility kept things tight yesterday and we didn't get eyes on any avy terrain, but I bet the range experienced a natural avalanche cycle as winds ramped up late yesterday and overnight.
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
Windy Peak (10,662') is a workhorse, delivering solid wind and temperature info 24/7. The data dump above clearly shows a 24 hour run of wind run that illustrates where you'll find recent drifts reactive to our additional weight.
Ya already know winds shape the landscape for the eastern front, and when you add in a little wind, it's a game changer.... a lot of wind... and it's a beast. So here's the dealio... there's no shortage of snow available for transport and today's avalanches will have more meat on the bone, and once triggered, they're gonna pack a dangerous punch. What's the strategy to manage the problem? Avoidance, of course! Yeah, simply pump the brakes on the big terrain and tone down your objectives because I guarantee there's a 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 are bulls-eye terrain today. Lose the wind and you lose the problem... plenty of great, wind sheltered riding options are found on lower angle slopes, especially those with no overhead hazard.
Avalanche Problem #2
New Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Storm snow is gonna be sensitive to our additional weight at all elevations so we'll wanna think about avoiding steep, snow covered slopes at all elevations. That means terrain right out of the gates near our trailheads and foothills.
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)
Last week 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 03:07 on Saturday March 25th this forecast expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but will be updated by 07:00 Sunday March 26th 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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