Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Tuesday - February 21, 2017 - 3:35am
bottom line

At and above treeline in the wind zone, you'll find pockets of CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger on steep leeward slopes facing the north half of the compass. Both new and old wind drifts will react to our additional weight and human triggered avalanches are LIKELY. Once triggered, today's avalanches may pack more of a punch than you might expect.

While less pronounced, a MODERATE avalanche danger is found on steep mid elevation north facing slopes and human triggered avalanches are possible.

Wind sheltered terrain and most slopes facing the south half of the compass offer LOW avalanche danger.
current conditions

Skies are clear and temperatures balmy, registering in the mid 20's and 30's. Southwest winds are the headline news and they're cranking 40-60 mph along the high ridges. Sun-exposed terrain is crusty and winds are working the big open bowls. However, on a go anywhere base and with a little effort, you'll still find soft creamy snow on wind sheltered shady slopes.


Above... 24 hour data from Lofty Lake Peak.

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

Snowpack observations and trip reports are found here.
recent activity


A lot of terrain took on heat and got shrink-wrapped yesterday. However, winds were strong enough to produce this natural avalanche. Breaking 1' deep x 250' wide and running 300' vertically, this slide occurred on a steep, upper elevation, northeast aspect in Upper Weber Canyon.

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

While much of our surface snow is baked in place, it never ceases to amaze me how winds blowing through the Uinta range can find enough snow to move around and form dense slabs on the leeward side of upper elevation ridges. And as you probably already know... wind was invented in the Uinta's. The good news is... recent warm temperatures are helping to weld a lot of our problems in place. However, in the wind zone it's a differant story and I bet there's plenty of places where you could find a thick, dense slab that'll break with the additional weight of a person. Once triggered, today's slabs could easily boss you around. Fortunately, we can manage the avalanche dragon by avoiding the problem.

Found mostly along the leeward side of upper elevation ridges and around terrain features like chutes, gullies, or sub-ridges, it's a good day to look for and avoid any fat, rounded piece of snow, especially if it sounds or feels hollow like a drum.

Recent winds coupled with dense snow are creating sensitive soft slabs on leeward slopes and adding another layer to the already ginormous ridgeline corni.
weather

Today look for increasing clouds, temperatures rising into the mid 40's, and southwest winds nuking into the 70's along the high ridges. A cold front slides through the region tonight, bringing a good shot of snow with 6"-10" expected by Wednesday morning. Winds relax somewhat tonight and tomorrow. An unstable and moist northwesterly flow persists through Thursday bringing additional accumulations.

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 Wednesday February 22nd.