Forecast for the Uintas Area Mountains
Issued by Craig Gordon for
Thursday, January 13, 2022
Thursday, January 13, 2022
MODERATE avalanche danger exists near and above treeline, especially in the wind zone. While not widespread and becoming more difficult to initiate, deep, dangerous, human triggered avalanches are still POSSIBLE. I'd tread lightly in steep, rocky terrain facing the north half of the compass and continue avoiding slopes with a shallow, weak, snowpack.
On a go-anywhere base with a little cream on top, there's no shortage of great riding options with less dangerous avalanche conditions. You'll find generally LOW avalanche danger today on slopes facing the south half of the compass and terrain less than 30 degrees in steepness.
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
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Weather and Snow
NOWCAST-
A brilliant moon casts beautiful light on our mountains this morning, where skies are clear, winds light and northerly, and temperatures inverted, registering in the mid to upper 20's. It's been nearly a week since our last storm, but there's still some shallow, cold cream on top of a go-anywhere-base. Riding and turning conditions are about as good as they get.
FORECAST-
High pressure shifts east today, opening the door to a mostly dry cold front which clips the area early Friday. In the meantime, expect increasing clouds and wind as the day wares on. Temperatures climb into the upper 30's.
FUTURECAST-
A quick hitting cold front slides into the region early Friday morning, bringing a snow shower or two whilst knocking temperatures down by about 10 degrees. High pressure builds through the weekend with no big storms in sight.
Ted was near Double Hill yesterday and reports excellent shallow powder riding conditions on very supportable, go-anywhere base. His very informative observation along with great insight on the state of the snowpack is found HERE.
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
No significant avalanche activity to report
Click HERE for a list of recent avalanches.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Here's the setup-
We're moving in the right direction and trending towards a snowpack becoming happy in its own skin as the persistent weak layer (PWL) of faceted, old, sugary snow near the ground slowly adjusts to the big December storms. However, let's not forget... a tremendous amount of dense, heavy, water laden snow piled up on a pre-existing fragile, shaky base and we can't take our eyes off the prize. Sure, all of the snow since Christmas is a good thing that eventually heals this weak layer, but it doesn't happen overnight. Indeed, things are calming down, avalanche activity isn't off the charts, and it's been nearly a week since any significant slides have been reported. But the big red flag is that last weeks avalanches continue breaking on our early season problem child or, in snow-geek-speak... persistent weak layer (PWL). So, while conditions are slowly improving, I'd continue steering clear of any steep, rocky, wind drifted slope, especially those facing the north half of the compass, that harbor old October snow.
Insider trading tip... this layer doesn't exist on south facing slopes and lower elevation shady terrain which had no snow prior to the big Christmas storms. In either case, both have excellent coverage, and soft creamy powder.
Additional Information
Yesterday, we installed the Beacon Basin training park at Nobletts Trailhead. Huge thanks to Wasatch and Summit County SAR, along with BCI for all the support making this potentially life saving resource available to our entire community.
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 Friday January 14th.
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.