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Forecast for the Uintas Area Mountains

Craig Gordon
Issued by Craig Gordon on
Saturday morning, January 8, 2022
Recent dense, heavy snow coupled with very strong winds creates dangerous avalanche conditions on steep, wind drifted slopes facing the north half of the compass. Look for CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger near and above treeline, especially in the wind zone where deep, dangerous, human triggered avalanches are LIKELY. While more straight-forward, human triggered avalanches are possible on steep, shady, wind drifted slopes at mid elevations where a MODERATE avalanche danger is found.
Where to go? With such excellent coverage, there are many terrain options with less dangerous conditions. Low angle slopes (less than 30 degrees in steepness) are always a great option because they are not steep enough to slide. South-facing slopes without wind drifted snow are a great option as well because they don't have a weak layer near the ground. In either case you'll find generally LOW avalanche danger today in terrain with these characteristics.
HEADS UP for roof-a-lanches - Many cabins have stacked up a lot of snow on the roofs which has started to slide off with warm temperatures. This is particularly dangerous as people unwittingly put themselves in danger and are innocently killed from roof avalanches. Please be especially watchful of children and pets and don't let them play underneath or near the edges of roofs if you are visiting the cabin this weekend.
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
Learn how to read the forecast here
Special Announcements
Introduction to Avalanche Rescue Course for the Uinta Region, on Wednesday, January 12th at Nobletts Trailhead. This course is based on snow, practicing with your rescue equipment learning how to rescue a buried partner. With a small student to instructor ratios, we make sure that each student receives individual coaching and feedback on their technique and the opportunity to run through multiple scenarios. Register HERE
Weather and Snow
NOWCAST-
A weak storm sliding through the region brings scattered snow showers, which stacked up just a couple inches of fresh snow overnight. Temperatures register in the teens and mid 20's. West and southwest winds are relentless, blowing 35-50 mph along the high ridges. Riding and turning conditions will rebound with todays refresh and mid elevation, wind sheltered terrain is your best bet to find soft, creamy snow.
FORECAST-
Snow showers linger for a few hours this morning, but then we can expect partly cloudy skies with winds diminishing into the mid 20's and 30's along the high ridges. High temperatures climb into the upper 20's and with clearing skies late today, crater into the teens and single digits overnight.
FUTURECAST-
Mostly sunny skies, light winds, and a warming trend are on tap for the second half of the weekend into midweek.
All the recent heavy snow has made very supportable, go-anywhere riding conditions. The photo above is from Mark's rip around on Thursday afternoon near Moffit Peak in upper Weber Canyon. While recent heat and damp snow helped form crusts at lower elevations, gain a bit of vertical and you'll be rewarded with soft, cold, creamy snow.
Looking for real-time temps, snow, or wind?
Click HERE and then on the "western Uinta" tab for western Uinta specific, weather station network.
Recent Avalanches
Yesterday, I spotted this large, well connected natural avalanche in Upper Weber Canyon. Occurring late Thursday night on a heavily wind loaded, east facing slope at 10,400', this piece of snow is nearly three football fields wide. Not particularly deep, averaging 4', yet lots of volume stacking up 10'-15' of debris on a bench-like terrain trap. This terrain is a bit of an outlier and has avalanched several times already this year, but shows us the avalanche dragon is very much alive on the eastern front.
Click HERE for a list of recent avalanches.
A list of all other observations is found HERE
Your input is vital and we're interested in what you're seeing. Please contribute to this great community resource and go here to fill out an observation.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Here's the setup-
A persistent weak layer (PWL) of faceted, old, sugary snow near the ground is found mostly in mid and upper elevation terrain facing the north half of the compass. Late December storms stacked up remarkable amounts of dense, heavy, water laden snow, coupled with very strong winds, bringing the weak layer to its tipping point. And while all of the snow since Christmas is a good thing that eventually heals this weak layer, it doesn't happen overnight. In fact, we've been seeing very large, hard slab avalanches breaking on our early season problem child or, in snow-geek-speak... persistent weak layer (PWL). Wednesday's heavy load of snow, water, and wind stressed this layer again, and I'd continue steering clear of any steep, wind drifted slope, especially those that harbor old October snow.
For now what makes this layer dangerous is:
  • Once triggered, avalanches may break hundreds of feet wide.
  • Avalanches will be 3-5 feet deep.
  • It may not be the first person on a slope that triggers A LARGE, DANGEROUS avalanche, it may be the second, third, fourth, etc. who triggers it.
  • Seeing tracks on a slope DOES NOT mean it's safe.
Here's the good news - This layer doesn't exist on south facing slopes which have excellent coverage, and soft creamy powder.
Photo - Northeast facing slope at 9600 feet showing the weak snow near the ground which looks sugary and granular.
Photo - An example of the snowpack on an east facing slope that doesn't have the weak layer. The snowpack is just strong and right-side-up, meaning it's hard at the ground and gets softer near the top. Low elevation east facing slopes generally don't have the weak layer however we have been finding it on east aspects as you gain elevation.
Avalanche Problem #2
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Above is a 24 hour data dump from Windy Peak (10,661')
West and southwest have cranked for days, finding what little snow there is left to blow around and whipping it into stiff wind drifts. Found mostly along the leeward side of upper elevation ridges, strong winds deposited snow further downslope than you might expect and cross-loaded terrain features like chutes and gullies. Fresh snow overnight will camouflage yesterday's wind drifts, making them harder to detect. In any case, today we want to look for and avoid any fat, rounded piece of snow, especially if it appears chalky or sounds hollow like a drum.
Additional Information
We installed the Transceiver Check station at Nobletts Trailhead this week... it's up and running and good to go. Of course, you want to check your partner before leaving the parking lot, but this is a good fail safe system to make sure everyone is sending a signal.
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
The information in this forecast expires 24 hours after the day and time posted, but will be updated by 07:00 Sunday January 9th.
Before it gets too crazy, now is the time to book an avalanche awareness presentation for your group, club, or posse. You can reach me 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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