Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Saturday - April 9, 2016 - 5:53am
bottom line

The avalanche danger is generally LOW this morning and human triggered avalanches are unlikely. If the sun comes out in earnest, expect the danger to rise to MODERATE and human triggered avalanches become possible on all steep, sun exposed slopes.
special announcement

We're starting to wrap things up for the season and tomorrow Sunday April 10th will be the last of our regularly scheduled advisories.

On April 8-9 the Adventure Gear Expo, Utah’s largest interactive adventure festival and outdoor gear sale for the public, will be at the South Town Expo Center in Sandy highlighting 100+ local and national retailers, manufacturers and non-profits in active outdoor sports, outdoor photography and adventure travel. If you buy tickets online using the promo code GOUAC, you will get a $2 discount and they will donate $2 to the UAC.
current conditions

Skies are cloudy and a warm airmass kept overnight low temperatures quite warm. Currently, most of our remote weather stations are reporting temperatures in the mid 30's with southerly winds blowing 15-25 mph along the high ridges. Sorta underwhelming out there today, but of course a day in the mountains is better than a day in the office. Expect some rugged conditions right out of the gates this morning, but with just a little bit of sunshine, the snow surface will start to soften pretty quickly.

Soapstone and the Mirror Lake Highway are thin in places, but you can easily ride to the high country right out of the parking lot.

Uinta weather station network info is found here.

Trip reports and observations are found here.
recent activity

No new avalanche activity to report.

Recent avalanche observations are found here

See or trigger an avalanche? Shooting cracks? Hear a collapse? It's simple. Go here to fill out an observation.
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

Spring avalanche conditions are dependant on heating and strong sunshine. While we're starting the day out kinda mild, I think cloud cover will help keep wet avalanche activity at bay. However, todays wild card is two-fold. If the sun comes out in earnest or if it starts dumping rain this afternoon the avalanche danger will rise accordingly. Fortunately, our snowpack is rather predictable and the avalanche danger pretty straight-forward. As the surface snow heats up or if you find yourself sinking into damp, manky snow, simply move on to a cooler aspect or maybe just call it a day. Also, think about avoiding terrain traps like gullies or steep roads cuts, especially during the heat of the day, when even a small, seemingly harmless avalanche can stack up a surprising amount of cement-like debris.

While not particularly huge, wet slides like this one near Lofty Lake Peak have the potential to gouge deeper into the snowpack as they descend the slope, stacking up impressive piles of cement-like debris.
weather

Today we can expect mostly cloudy skies with scattered afternoon rain and snow showers. Southerly winds remain in the 15-25 mph range with a few gusts in the 30's along the high peaks. Temperatures rise into the mid 40's with overnight lows near freezing. We might see a break in the action early Sunday, but a moist, unsettled, and mild pattern continues through early next week. A stronger storm is on tap for late in the 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 If Craig is unavailable you can reach his partner Trent at 801-455-7239, email [email protected] 

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]. To register for the first in our series of on-the-snow sled specific classes you can register here.

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.

The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:00 AM on Sunday, April 10th.