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Forecast for the Uintas Area Mountains

Craig Gordon
Issued by Craig Gordon for
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
Hardly widespread, pockets of MODERATE avalanche danger focus their sights on upper elevation, leeward terrain in the wind zone. Human triggered avalanches are possible, especially on steep slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow, and particularly in terrain with an easterly component to its aspect. Lose some elevation, you lose the wind, and you lose the problem. Generally LOW avalanche danger is found on lower elevation terrain where human triggered avalanches are UNLIKELY.
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
Learn how to read the forecast here
Special Announcements
TONIGHT!
Wednesday February 8th... save the date and take a date-
Please join Craig Gordon (that's me) in partnership with WNDR Alpine, Wednesday February 8th at 5:00 for a State of the Snowpack prezo at Woodbine Food Hall. It'll be fun, informative, and potentially entertaining. All the deets are found HERE.
Weather and Snow
Nowcast- A quick hitting storm sliding through the region ushers in clouds and temperatures in the teens. Winds shifted to the west right around the turn of the new day and currently blow in the 20's and 30's along the high ridges. Recent winds have damaged big, open, alpine terrain, but get out of the wind zone and you'll find soft, settled powder on mid elevation wind sheltered slopes.
Forecast- Not a big storm by any stretch, today's system is a non-event with more huff than fluff. A few traces of snow stack up as west and northwest winds blow in the 40's near the peaks. Temperatures barely crack into the low 20's and then dip into the single digits overnight under clearing skies.
Futurecast- Quiet weather is on tap to round out the work week.
Ted found cold shallow pow in Whitney Basin yesterday, whilst Nikki stomped around Mirror Lake Highway. In either case, they both found great riding and very straight-forward avy conditions.
Huge thanks for all the great obs streaming in from the eastern front. Detailed trip reports and recent obs are found HERE.
Recent Avalanches
No significant avalanche activity to report, but 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
Fresh wind drifts on steep, leeward slopes like in the image above from yesterday, clearly illustrate the size and scope of our current avalanche dragon.
Recent winds have blown from every quadrant of the compass and a few shallow drifts linger on steep leeward slopes and cross-loaded terrain features like chutes and gullies, especially those with an east component to their aspect. No matter how you cut it, both old and fresh drifts will react to our additional weight and may break deeper and wider than you might expect. Today you'll want to look for and avoid fat, rounded pillows of snow, especially if they sound hollow like a drum. This avalanche dragon is easy to navigate around by avoidance... simply lose a little elevation, you lose the wind, and you lose the problem.
Additional Information
Weather stations-
And... rime events have 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 03:31 on Wednesday February 8th, this forecast expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but will be updated by 07:00 Thursday February 9th 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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