Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Thursday - February 23, 2017 - 3:30am
bottom line

While not widespread, at and above treeline in the wind zone, you'll find pockets of CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger on steep wind drifted slopes. Shallow yet sensitive wind drifts will react to our additional weight and human triggered avalanches are LIKELY. Once triggered, today's avalanches will fan out, entraining more snow than you might expect.

While less pronounced, 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 slopes in mid and lower elevations offer LOW avalanche danger.
current conditions

Yesterday was probably the best day of the year and on a scale of 1 to 10... it registered as an 11 on the "Sickter" scale! And here's why. Tuesday night's storm came in warm and wet and went out cold and dry. Wow... what a right-side up, designer storm! Another 4" of ultra-light Utah fluff fell last night bringing storm totals to nearly 18" of much needed white paint. Temperatures are cold and in the teens and single digits. Along the ridges west and northwest winds are blowing 15-25 mph. On a go anywhere supportable base, riding and turning conditions are about as good as they get... it's over-the-head and over-the-hood.


Above... 24 hour data from Windy Peak.

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

Snowpack observations and trip reports are found here.
recent activity


Not many days in the Uinta's where the only avalanche activity you talk about is sluffing on steep sustained slopes.

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

You couldn't ask for a more straight-forward storm and in general our snowpack is very predictable. I think yesterday's storm snow instabilities healed overnight and any issues we have today revolve around an uptick in the winds. For the most part, today's avalanche dragon is an easy study. Found mostly on the leeward side of upper elevation ridges, today's fresh drifts will predictably break at or below your skis, board, or sled. These are the kind of avalanches that a sledder can easily manage, but once triggered, might be large enough to boss around a skier, boarder, or snowshoer. In either case, gather some info by stomping on road cuts and test slopes and see how they're reacting before charging into steep, committing terrain.
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

Recent winds coupled with dense snow are adding another layer to the already ginormous ridgeline corni. These unpredictable boxcar monsters are breaking further back than you'd think, and can easily take you for an unexpected, terrifying, elevator ride to the ground floor.
weather

A cold, unstable west to northwest flow keeps snow showers going through the day and ushers in cold air with highs only reaching into the teens. West and northwest winds remain reasonable, blowing in the 20's and low 30's along the high ridges. Snow showers continue tomorrow but taper off late in the day. The next chance of snow is Saturday afternoon through Saturday night, though accumulations look light and temperatures remain cold.
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 Friday February 24th.