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Forecast for the Uintas Area Mountains

Craig Gordon
Issued by Craig Gordon on
Saturday morning, February 25, 2023
Winds continue pumping away to reshape the landscape-
On steep, leeward slopes in the wind zone at and above treeline, you'll find CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger. With a little provocation, both new and older wind drifts react to our additional weight and human triggered avalanches are LIKELY, especially in terrain facing the north half of the compass. While not as obvious or widespread, pockets of MODERATE danger are found in mid elevation terrain near treeline and human triggered avalanches are POSSIBLE on steep slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow.
Lose the wind and you lose the problem... LOW avalanche danger exists on mid and lower elevation terrain, especially slopes facing the south half of the compass.
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
Learn how to read the forecast here
Weather and Snow
Nowcast- It's a beautiful morning with clear skies overhead and temperatures crawling out of the icebox and into the teens... about ten degrees warmer than at this time yesterday. With low pressure sliding down the west coast, relentless southerly winds blow 30-50 mph and continue to punish the upper elevation ridges. The snow surface is hit or miss in the alpine, but lose some elevation, seek out mid elevation, wind sheltered terrain and you'll be rewarded with cold, creamy snow.
Forecast- After a sunny start, look for increasing clouds by days end with high temperatures climbing into the mid 30's. South and southwest winds continue blowing in the 30's and 40's near the high peaks.
Futurecast- Snow showers develop for Sunday and increase in intensity Monday, delivering a solid shot of snow, water, and wind. An active pattern is on tap with on-again off-again snow continuing through Thursday. More deets to come for tomorrow's update.
And the hits keep coming... more snow for northern Utah is on the way!
Detailed trip reports and recent obs are found HERE.
Recent Avalanches
Micheal J was in the Hoyt environs yesterday and found fresh drifts initiated easily with his additional weight. After some sled issues, Micheal is back on the snow and I look forward to seeing more of his informative observations now that his ride be a-runnin'.
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
Recent trends in wind speed, direction, and duration from Windy Peak (10,662').
Pretty straight-forward... southerly winds have blown for several days and there's no shortage of fresh snow to blow around and form drifts on the leeward side of ridges and around terrain features like chutes and gullies. Found mostly in the wind zone above treeline, I bet there's a drift or two lurking right around treeline as well. I bet if you were looking for a wind slab to trigger... you can find one and it might break a little deeper than you'd expect. You know avoidance is the ticket, so be ready to pump the brakes on objectives if you're seeing shooting cracks out in front your your skis, board, or sled. This is an easy avalanche dragon to avoid... 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 03:09 on Saturday February 25th, this forecast expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but will be updated by 07:00 Sunday February 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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