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Forecast for the Uintas Area Mountains

Craig Gordon
Issued by Craig Gordon on
Saturday morning, April 1, 2023
Please don't let sunny skies and fresh pow lull you into a false sense of security... it's sketchy today-
In the wind zone, above treeline, you'll find HIGH avalanche danger. On steep, rocky, upper elevation slopes, human triggered avalanches are VERY LIKELY. 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 could 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. More predictable MODERATE avalanche danger is found on steep, lower elevation slopes, where storm snow reacts to our additional weight and human triggered avalanches are POSSIBLE.
Low
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Learn how to read the forecast here
Avalanche Warning
WHAT...The avalanche danger is HIGH with dangerous avalanche conditions.
WHERE...The mountains of northern Utah including the Uinta Mountains, Wasatch Range, and Bear River Range.
WHEN...In effect today 6 AM MDT Saturday.
IMPACTS...Recent heavy snowfall and strong winds created dangerous avalanche conditions in the backcountry. Human triggered and avalanches are likely. Travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended. Please stay off of and out from under slopes steeper than 30 degrees.
Weather and Snow
Nowcast- Wow... that was one for the ages! Yesterday's storm focused its fire hose on the North Slope, stacking up snow fast and furious, delivering 24" of snow with 1.2" H2O. The south half of the range from Trial Lake to Currant Creek arrives to the party fashionably late and makes a respectable showing with half that amount. Looking overhead this morning at partly cloudy skies, a beautiful Pink Moon weighs it options.... wax on or wax off... but at o'dark thirty, decides on the former as it illuminates our historically white mountains. Temperatures register in the teens and southwest winds blow 20-30 mph near the high peaks. On a go-anywhere base and in non-snow-geek-speak... riding conditions are all time and the snow surface is blower!
Forecast- A beauty of a day is on tap, but it's short-lived. Sunny skies this morning give way to increasing clouds by late in the day as the next storm queues up to slide into the region tomorrow. In the meantime, temperatures climb into the mid 30's and southerly winds bump into the 40's by sunset.
Futurecast- Thickening clouds roll into northern Utah Sunday with snow developing by late in the day as a weak storm clips the northern half of the state. Yet another, prolonged storm evolves to kick off the workweek, lasting through midweek... unreal!
Our good friends at the Salt Lake NWS lay out the timeline for our next series of storms
Trip Reports-
Detailed trip reports and recent obs are found HERE.
Recent Avalanches
Visibility limited travels yesterday, but the storm snow was hyper-reactive to the additional weight of a rider, yet settled somewhat by mid day.
No significant recent avalanches to report in the past day or two, but 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
Well developed cornice like the ginormi... corni in the image above, are a double edged sword. While great indicators to indicate predominate wind direction and potentially wind drifted terrain, also remember these beasts can unpredictably break in front or behind you and need to be given a huge berth.
There's no shortage of fresh snow available to blow around and recent winds have little problem whipping up fresh drifts reactive to our additional weight. Remember... there are multiple storms worth of wind drifted snow stacked up on leeward slopes in the wind zone and once triggered, todays avalanches are gonna pack a hefty punch. It doesn't mean you shouldn't ride... it does mean that rather than blindly center-punching a big objective with no beta, gather as much information as you can about the snowpack. Tweak small test slopes similar in aspect, elevation, and slope angle to the kinda terrain you plan on riding and see how they're reacting. In addition, have an exit plan in place in case things go sideways and discuss that with your crew before considering big terrain. Remember... you can have a blast on slopes protected by the wind and not even have to pull on the avalanche dragons tail today.
Avalanche Problem #2
Wet Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Remember... the sun is high in the sky and it's penetrating all aspects and elevations. Also... yesterday's storm snow fell on a variety of old, hard, surfaces and with a little daytime heating, it'll easily react to our additional weight. And finally... even a small new snow slide can take you for an unexpected ride, especially in sustained, steep terrain.
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)
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 03:27 on Saturday April 1st this forecast expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but will be updated by 07:00 Sunday April 2nd 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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