Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Uintas Area Mountains Issued by Craig Gordon for Sunday - January 7, 2018 - 4:19am
bottom line

While more the exception than the rule, pockets of MODERATE avalanche danger are found on steep, rocky, wind drifted slopes at and above treeline particularly on slopes facing the north half of the compass.

Mid and low elevation terrain, most south facing slopes, and terrain that held no snow prior to the Christmas Eve storm offer generally LOW avalanche danger.




special announcement

Big thanks to Salt Valley Snowmobile Club for sponsoring and maintaining this beacon checker at Soapstone. Not hard to miss and it's up and running in the main parking lot.

current conditions

Yesterday's little storm laid down 4" of dense, creamy snow and yes... the riding conditions vastly improved with this thin coat of white paint. This morning, skies are partly cloudy, temperatures in the teens and low 20's, and northwest winds are blowing 10-20 mph along the high ridges.

Above are 24 hour temperatures and snow depth from Trial Lake along with winds and temperatures from Windy Peak. More remote Uinta weather stations are found here

Recent trip reports and findings can be seen here.

recent activity

Yesterday's storm snow was quite reactive. Nothing earth-shattering, but a few sluffs and shallow soft slabs were reported on steep, shady slopes across the range. Click here to see recent avy activity.

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

The persistent slab that's been giving us heartburn has relaxed and we haven't heard of or seen any significant avalanche activity in nearly a week. As a matter of fact, last weeks high and dry weather helped gobble up a lot of the cohesive properties of the Christmas slab, essentially breaking it down and turning it into weak, faceted, sugary surface snow or what we call "loud powder". Of course that's good news in the near-term, but this inherent weakness will come back to haunt us once winter returns from its hiatus.

While I think you'd be hard pressed to trigger an avalanche of any signifcance today, remember that the Uinta's are a big range. I bet there's a wind drifted slope or two that just needs to be tickled in the right place and it'll come to life. By now you know the usual suspects to avoid... steep, rocky, upper elevation slopes, especially those facing the north half of the compass

He's back! JG's beautifully detailed snowpit clearly illustrates our problem child buried in the midpack.

weather

As yesterday's storm shifts to the east, we can expect clearing skies with temperatures climbing into the mid 30's. Northwest winds blow 15-25 mph along the high ridges. Overnight lows dip into the mid 20's and clouds increase ahead of a promising two-part storm slated to slide through the region beginning late Monday. Round one ushers in a warm, moist southerly flow with snow above about 8,000'. Round two is colder as the flow switches to northwest late Tuesday or early Wednesday with snow levels lowering. Snowfall tapers off late Wednesday. I'll have a better idea of what to expect on storm totals for tomorrow's update.

general announcements

The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:00 AM Monday January 8, 2018.

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.