Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Tuesday - December 5, 2017 - 2:56am
bottom line

At and above treeline, a MODERATE avalanche danger exists. This means human triggered avalanches are possible on steep wind drifted slopes, particularly those facing the north half of the compass. Remember- any slide that breaks to old snow near the ground is going to instantly ruin your day as you get slammed into rocks and stumps, barely hidden under the thin facade of our shallow snowpack.

LOW avalanche danger is found on south facing slopes and terrain that had no snow prior to Sunday's storm.
special announcement

With no dramatic changes in the weather and no storms in sight, I'll update this advisory by 7:00 am, Saturday December 9th.
current conditions

Skies cleared late last night revealing the waning stages of a big, bright, beautiful moon. With no cloud cover, temperatures have crashed to near zero. East and northeast winds are relatively well behaved blowing in the low to mid 20's. Sunday's storm delivered about a foot of fresh snow, but total snow depths are still in the infant stage and there's only 18"-24", limiting travel to road rides and grassy meadows.


Above are 24 hour temperatures and snow depth from Trial Lake, along with temperatures and winds from Windy Peak
recent activity

No recent avalanche activity to report.
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

Sunday night's storm was a good shot in the arm for our snowpack and I bet the range experienced a natural avalanche cycle on steep, upper elevation, wind drifted slopes. Unfortunately, we're drawn to this exact type of terrain because those upper elevation, shady slopes have the best coverage and we won't be slamming into rocks. Sounds pretty straight-forward, but here's where it gets tricky... terrain that didn't avalanche is waiting for a trigger like us to come along and knock the legs out from under the slab.

Remember-there's some junk in the trunk and steep, upper elevation, shady slopes facing the north half of the compass have a house of cards snow structure. While the snowpack adjusts to the big wekend storm, the key to avalanche avoidance is to simply steer clear of terrain with these characteristics. Instead of rolling the dice, head to slopes that had no snow prior to the storm.

Ted was in Whitney Basin prior to the storm and found cohesive snow resting on weak factes... clearly illustrated in the image above. Click here for Ted's great video recap.
weather

Today we can expect clear skies with temperatures climbing into the low 20's and overnight lows dipping into the single digits. Winds veer to the north and blow in the 20's along the high ridges. High pressure settles into the area for the rest of the week, bringing dry conditions, and a warming trend. No big pattern change in sight.
general announcements

I'll up date this advisory by 7:00 AM Friday December 8, 2017.

If you're getting out and about, please let me know what you're seeing especially if you see or trigger and avalanche. I can be reached at [email protected] or 801-231-2170

It's also a good time to set up one of our very popular avalanche awareness classes. Reach out to me and I'll make it happen.

This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done. This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.