Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Sunday - November 23, 2014 - 6:07am
bottom line

In the wind zone the avalanche danger is HIGH. Both human triggered and natural avalanches are likely especially on upper elevation, leeward slopes, facing the north half of the compass.

At mid elevations the avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE on steep wind drifted slopes and human triggered avalanche are probable.

In either case, triggering even a small slide will expose a myriad of hidden obstacles, instantly ruing your day and quite possibly your season.

Looking for LOW avalanche danger? Head to slopes that had no pre-existing snow prior to yesterday's storm.




avalanche warning

THE AVALANCHE WARNING FOR ALL MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN UTAH HAS BEEN CONTINUED THROUGH 5 AM MONDAY. DANGEROUS AVALANCHE CONDITIONS EXIST AT THE MID AND UPPER ELEVATIONS...WITH BOTH NATURAL AND HUMAN TRIGGERED SLIDES LIKELY.

current conditions

And then it was winter! Right around midnight the winter switch got flipped to the "on" position and the eastern front got pounded. An evenly disbursed foot of snow stacked up throughout the range, but Trial Lake is clearly the big winner with 16". Temperatures are in the low to mid teens. Unfortunately with big storms sometimes we get big winds and that's the case this morning. Along the high ridges, west and northwest winds are howling with hourly averages in the 30's and gusts in the 50's. While snow depth and coverage have improved dramatically overnight, your choices for early season riding are still pretty limited to rock free meadows or roads.

recent activity

No recent avalanche activity to report.

Avalanche Problem 1
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

Mirror Lake Highway isn't being maintained, but Wolf Creek Pass is open. However, just cause you can see it from the road doesn't necessarily mean it's safe.

This storm is a good news, bad news kinda storm. The good news is... all the new snow will finally kick winter into gear and get the season rolling. The bad news... all the storm snow is resting on a weak, sugary mess near the ground. Here's the deal- your choices for riding or turning are limited to mid and high elevation snow facing the north half of the compass and that's exactly the type of terrain where you could trigger an avalanche today. Underneath yesterday's storm is early season snow that grew weak and sugary and recent winds drifted snow everywhere. Complicating matters... the snow will feel strong and supportable. So we've gotta think not only about the snow we're riding in, but also the snow we're riding on.

Unfortunately, a lot of avalanche accidents and close calls occur early in the season when we don't think there's enough snow to slide. Right now we've got a dangerous early season setup- strong snow on weak snow. Today, you'll want to look for and avoid any fat, rounded piece of snow, especially if it sounds hollow like a drum. Remember- clues like shooting cracks and booming collapses or whoomphing sounds are huge clues to unstable snow.

There's not much snow and triggering a slide will immediately ruin your day, taking you for a nasty ride through rocks and stumps barely hidden underneath the shallow snowpack, resulting in a season ending injury.

weather

After a bit of a break, one last gasp of snow should move over the region tonight, giving us a few additional inches of light fluff. Northwest winds remain a nuisance along the high ridges, blowing into the 40's and 50's. Temperatures don't vary much from where we're at this morning and dip into the single digits overnight. Scattered snow showers linger into Monday and then high pressure begins to build into the mid portion of the upcoming week.

general announcements

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory by submitting snow and avalanche conditions.   You can call me directly at 801-231-2170, email [email protected], or email by clicking HERE

This is a great time of year to schedule a free avalanche awareness presentation for your group or club. You can contact me at 801-231-2170 or email [email protected]

Donate to your favorite non-profit –The Utah Avalanche Center. The UAC depends on contributions from users like you to support our work.

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you buy or sell on ebay - set the Utah Avalanche Center as a favorite non-profit in your ebay account here and click on ebay gives when you buy or sell.  You can choose to have your seller fees donated to the UAC, which doesn't cost you a penny.

Utah Avalanche Center mobile app - Get your advisory on your iPhone along with great navigation and rescue tools.

The information in this advisory is from the US Forest Service which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

I will update this advisory by 7:00 AM Monday Nov. 24, 2014.