Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Sunday - January 22, 2017 - 4:14am
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Heads up... it'll be a day of rising avalanche danger.

In the wind zone, at and above treeline, the avalanche danger will rise to CONSIDERABLE. As winds ramp up and the storm evolves, human triggered avalanches become LIKELY on steep, wind drifted slopes, especially those on the leeward side of upper elevation ridges. Remember- any avalanche that breaks to weaker snow, now buried deep in the snowpack will get out of hand quickly, resulting in a dangerous slide.

A MODERATE avalanche danger is found in mid elevation terrain and human triggered avalanches are POSSIBLE on steep slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow.

Wind sheltered lower elevation terrain offers green light conditions and in general, LOW avalanche danger.
special announcement

Huge thanks to Park City Powder Cats for hosting yesterday's well attended Sled 101 class. Here Andy Van Houten and Tyler St. Jeor set the stage for a rescue scenario, whilst Trent heckles the photographer :) (Gordon photo)
current conditions

Over-the-head and over-the-hood! Yesterday's sleeper storm materialized outta nowhere delivering just over a foot of ultra-light density Utah blower! In its wake, skies are partly cloudy and temperatures in the single digits and low teens. Winds switched to west and southwest early this morning and are currently blowing 10-20 mph along the high ridges. It'll be changing quick this morning as a warm, windy storm is at our doorstep. So get out and get after it early and you'll find excellent riding and turning conditions especially on low angle, wind sheltered, shady slopes.

Additional snowpack observations and trip reports are found here.


Above... a 24 hour run of the Windy Peak weather station.

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


Steep, wind drifted slopes got touchy as yesterday's storm started ramping up. Michael J was in Weber Canyon, and easily able to trigger this shallow, yet very sensitive soft slab. (​Janulaitis photo) More on his travels here.

A full list of 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 were all over the map yesterday and there's no shortage of light density snow to blow around and form drifts sensitive to our additional weight. With another storm just hours away, this mornings manageable and predictable wind drifts will quickly turn into this afternoons bigger, badder counterpart. The game changer... well it's gonna be the winds and they're forecast to crank by days end. As the storm ramps up expect drifting much further downslope and around terrain features like chutes and gullies. In addition, look for and avoid any fat, rounded piece of snow. And finally, gather some solid beta during your travels and reassess conditions throughout the day. Stomp on small test slopes like road cuts that are similar in aspect, elevation, and slope angle and see how they're reacting, rather than blindly sending it onto a steep slope without any good intel.


Seen in the image above, yesterdays predictable soft slabs will begin breaking deeper and wider as the day and storm evolves. (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

Steep, complex terrain like Gold Hill is the kind of place you could trigger a deep, dangerous avalanche. The avalanche seen in the image above broke naturally during the big cycle two weeks ago. Ted was in the hood yesterday to have a look and has interesting insight to slopes that ran big and now have weak snow snow near the ground. Ted knows the Uinta's better than anyone... click here for his take on things. (T. Scroggin photo)
weather

A rapidly approaching storm system brings increasing clouds, temperatures rising into the low 30's, and very strong winds. Southwest winds ramp up this afternoon, blowing in the 40's and increase tonight into the 60's and 70's along the high ridges. Snow develops late in the day and we should see 6"-10" by Monday morning. A cold front crosses the region late tomorrow ushering in additional snowfall. A good storm for the Uinta's with a foot or so by the time things wind down on Tuesday.

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 Monday January 23rd.