Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Monday - December 26, 2016 - 3:31am
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Heads up... the avalanche danger is higher on the south half of the range from Trial Lake to Currant Creek to Daniels.

On steep upper elevation slopes, particularly in the wind zone, the avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE today. Human triggered avalanches are LIKELY, especially on all steep, wind drifted slopes. Once triggered, today's avalanches have the potential to break deeper and wider than you might expect.

Steep slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow at mid elevations offer MODERATE avalanche danger and human triggered avalanches are POSSIBLE.

Low elevation wind sheltered terrain and most south facing slopes offer generally LOW avalanche danger.




special announcement

Give the gift that keeps giving and help save a life by doing so. Sign up for one of our Riding Skills and Avy Awareness Workshops given by sledders... for sledders. We've got two workshops this year-

Thursday Jan 19th evening, followed by an on the snow field day Saturday Jan. 21st. Details here.

Thursday Feb. 9th evening, followed by an on the snow field day Saturday Feb. 11th. Details here.

current conditions

The Boss and I say... Merry Christmas Baby!

The Christmas storm delivered a healthy dose of fresh snow with the south half of the range clocking in as the big winner. From Trial Lake to Daniels and over to Currant Creek, nearly two feet of snow stacked up since late Friday. The North Slope never really got in on the action and storm totals are just over a foot. This morning, skies are mostly cloudy, a few light snow showers linger, and temperatures are right zero degrees. West and southwest winds blew in the 20's and 30's for most of Christmas day, tapering off around midnight and are currently blowing 10-15 mph along the high peaks. Riding and turning conditions are gonna be epic today, especially on wind sheltered slopes, where you'll find over-the-hood and over-the-head snow on a mostly supportable base.

Real time wind, snow, and temperatures for the Uinta's are found here.

Recent observations are found here.

recent activity

No news of the weird from our hood.

A full list of recent Uinta avalanche activity is found here.

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 throughout the storm and as such, drifting has occurred in some unusual terrain features... think chutes, gullies, and sub-ridges. In addition, slabs that developed early in the storm are now covered with a thick blanket of storm snow, making them harder to detect. Sounds complicated doesn't it? Well when things get tricky in the mountains I keep it simple and employ the best offense... which of course, is a solid defense. Found mostly on the leeward side of upper elevation ridges, simply avoid any fat, rounded piece of snow, especially if it sounds hollow like a drum. And remember- we've added a substantial amount of snow to the pack, especially to the south half of the range, and any avalanche triggered today has the potential to break into a variety of layers now buried several feet deep in our snowpack.

Throughout the storm, strong winds stripped many upper elevation slopes down to the ground. Remember- that snow has gotta go somewhere. (Janulaitis photo)

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

Overall our snowpack looks great and most slopes across the range are gonna handle the Christmas storm. However, we do have a few problem children and terrain where the snowpack has remained thin all season, particularly steep, rocky, upper elevation slopes facing the north half of the compass remain suspect. Once triggered, an avalanche in terrain with these characteristics can easily get out of hand. I'd give the big north facing bowls a few days and let them adjust to the recent storm.

This small pocket was triggered by a snowcat along a ridge this weekend. Whilst not particularly large, it broke to weak snow near the ground and gives us a clue to what we're dealing with in this department. (Boyer photo)

weather

Morning clouds should start to dissipate as high pressure slowly builds into the area today. While westerly winds remain reasonable, blowing just 10-20 mph along the ridges, temperatures are gonna be cold with highs barely reaching into the mid teens and overnight lows dipping to the single digits. A sunny day with slightly warmer temperatures is on tap for Tuesday and a weak storm slides through the north half of the state Wednesday.

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]

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 Tuesday December 27th.