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Forecast for the Uintas Area Mountains

Craig Gordon
Issued by Craig Gordon on
Tuesday morning, December 20, 2022
Avoiding the avalanche dragon is easy-
Today, you'll find CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger on all steep, upper elevation, shady slopes. The danger is most pronounced in terrain facing the north half of the compass in the wind zone at and above treeline. Human triggered avalanches breaking to weak, sugary, midpack snow are LIKELY. Mid and low elevation, north facing terrain with similar layering offer MODERATE avalanche danger and human triggered avalanches are POSSIBLE.
Looking for the Clif-notes, fast-track version to LOW avalanche danger? Mid and low elevation wind sheltered terrain with no overhead hazard (meaning, no steep slopes above or adjacent to where I'm traveling) is the hot ticket. I've been finding excellent riding conditions and fun meadow skipping on mellow, wind sheltered slopes with no overhead hazard.
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
Learn how to read the forecast here
Special Announcements
As the end of the year approaches, please consider a donation to the UAC to support avalanche forecasting.
Weather and Snow
Nowcast- High clouds drifted into the region overnight as weak storm clips the northern fringes of the state. Current temperatures clock in for the early morning shift and register in the low teens across the board. Southwest winds began ramping into the mid 20's and 30's right around suppertime Monday, continued through dinner time, and are constant in that spirit this morning. Riding and turning conditions are most excellent, though recent winds are gonna work the big open bowls. But don't let your heart be troubled... on a solid, go anywhere base, we've got room to roam and you'll find excellent riding conditions, particularly in mid elevation, wind sheltered terrain.
Forecast- A quick hitting storm on the doorstep delivers increasing clouds with southwest winds bumping into the 40's as the day wares on and snow developing late in the day. High temperatures climb into the upper 20's. Westerly winds crank into the 50's and snow slides into the region overnight with 4"-8" looking like a solid bet by days end Wednesday. Overnight temperatures deliver mercury cratering lows into negative territory.
Futurecast- Partly cloudy skies with very cold temperatures for Thursday. A slow warming trend for the weekend.
Lots of excellent trip reports and recent obs are found HERE.
Recent Avalanches
Tyler St. Jeor found this slide Sunday in Roundy Basin, just above the groomed trail on his way to Currant Creek.
From the North Slope to the south half of the range and points in between, recent human triggered avalanches display similar characteristics, revealing a failure in the midpack weakness which leads to avalanches gouging to the ground.
Recent avy activity and a slew of Uinta obs are HERE.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
While the snowpack slowly gains strength, we're hardly good to go. In fact, our snowpit stabilities tests continue to confirm our suspicions. But the rubber hits the road with seeing the biggest clue to avalanches.... avalanches!
The most likely place to trigger an avalanche is where a dense, strong, solid layer (slab) rests on weaker snow (Persistent Weak Layer or PWL) formed during the mid November dry-spell. That combo is found on slopes facing the north half of the compass, especially those in the wind zone at and above treeline. So, by avoiding that setup, you essentially avoid avalanches!
But you're thinking, "That's avalanche geek-speak", I wanna know where I can ride, have an epic day, and NOT trigger an avalanche. And actually that's an easy one. Travel is straight-forward on a very supportable base and low angle terrain rides like a dream! With no shortage of great riding in big open meadows and on low angle slopes, there's plenty of opportunity to avoid pulling on the avalanches dragons tail all together.
Avalanche Problem #2
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Above is a 24 hour data dump from Windy Peak (10,662')
Southwest winds bumped into the 30's late Monday, whipping the snow into shallow, yet sensitive drifts along the leeward side of ridges and around terrain features like chutes and gullies.
Not particularly widespread, today you'll wanna look for and avoid any fat looking rounded pillow of snow, especially if it sounds hollow like a drum.
Additional Information
State of the snowpack prezo Thursday Dec. 22nd-
When-
Thursday December 22, 2022
Show starts at 6:00
What-
Please join Utah Avalanche Center forecaster Craig Gordon (that's me :) as I take a deep dive and reflect on recent close calls along with what’s going on with our current snowpack structure and what's in the store for the future.

Where-
Alpha Coffee
7260 Racquet Club Dr, Cottonwood Heights, UT 84121
Weather stations-
And... we were super busy this summer upgrading the western Uinta weather station network and this real-time winter info is 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 03:51 on Tuesday December 20th, this forecast expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but will be updated by 07:00 Wednesday December 21st.
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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