Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Sunday - January 18, 2015 - 5:56am
bottom line

At upper elevations in the wind zone a MODERATE avalanche danger exists and human triggered avalanches are possible on steep slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. While not widespread and making up a small portion of the terrain available to ride in, once triggered, avalanches still have potential to break to weak layers near the ground, especially on slopes facing North, Northeast, and East.

All other terrain offers a LOW avalanche danger.
special announcement

Nearly 50 sledders gather at the bottom of Superbowl to discuss snowpack and route choices in avalanche terrain. Probably the largest gathering of snowmobilers in north America yesterday attending our Avy Awareness and Riding Skills class. Huge thanks to Park City Powder Cats for hosting the gig and to Dan Gardiner, Phatty, Nick Reedy and the Boondocker athletes for giving so much of themselves to this great event. In addition, I couldn't pull this off without the expertise of all the great UAC instructors... Trent, Brett, Cody, Tyler, Jason, Andy, and Kory.... y'all rock!

We just released an exciting, new avy safety video designed specifically for snowmobilers - Knowledge is Powder. https://vimeo.com/113677686

NEW THIS YEAR: You can now receive advisories by email for each region in the state. Go here for details.
current conditions

Skies are partly cloudy, temperatures in the mid 20's, and southwest winds are blowing 25-35 mph along the high ridges. Wind sheltered mid elevation terrain is the ticket for soft, creamy snow. Click here for real-time temperatures, snowfall, and winds.
recent activity

No new 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

Winds have been all over the place and the most obvious avalanche dragon today are fresh drifts along the leeward side of upper elevation ridges. While mostly manageable in size and depth, if you're in steep, committing terrain, even a small slide can knock you off your feet or roll your machine and at the very least, be an instant buzz-kill.
Avalanche Problem 2
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

The storm snow from earlier this week is settling, gaining more strength, and in turn, becoming more of a slab. While the surface snow will feel pretty bomber underneath our skis, board, or sled, but I'm not totally convinced our midpack weakness is super comfortable in it's own skin just yet. While it's more the exception than the rule, you can still trigger a slide that breaks to weak snow near the ground. Prime suspects are slopes facing North, Northeast, and East at upper elevations and terrain that avalanched during the Solstice storm.

The most likely place to trigger a slide that breaks into old snow revolves around the midpack weakness right around the Solstice crust.

This pocket in Superbowl was triggered from a distance along an adjacent ridgeline on Wednesday. While not widespread, this is a great example of a persistent slab which can break deeper and wider than you might expect.
weather

A weak ridge is in place over the region and that'll give us partly cloudy skies, temperatures warming into the mid 30's, with west and southwest winds blowing in the 40's along the high peaks.. A weak storm grazes the northern half of the state tonight and tomorrow bringing a few flurries and cooler temperatures. High pressure builds for the rest 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 Wednesday Jan. 21, 2015.