Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Sunday - April 10, 2016 - 5:48am
bottom line

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

Today, Sunday April 10th is the last of our regularly scheduled advisories. I will update this page on Monday with some general avalanche information and tips. Of course, we're still interested in the snowpack. See or trigger an avalanche? Shooting cracks? Hear a collapse? It's simple. Go here to fill out an observation.
current conditions

Partly cloudy skies helped cool the snow surface, but with temperatures hovering just at or just above freezing, it wasn't a deep, solid refreeze. Along the high ridges southerly winds are blowing 15-20 mph. Expect some rugged conditions right out of the gates this morning and scratchers are a must. 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

While we're starting the day out kinda mild, I think intermittent cloud cover will help keep wet avalanche activity at bay. However, if the sun comes out in earnest expect the avalanche danger to 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 partly cloudy skies, temperatures rising into the upper 40's, and southerly winds blowing in the 20's and 30's along the high peaks. Overnight lows dip to near freezing. Unsettled weather is on tap for the upcoming week with mild temperatures and hit or miss rain and snow showers. A better chance of measurable snow materializes Thursday and Friday.
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 on Monday April 11th with general avalanche information.