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Forecast for the Uintas Area Mountains

Craig Gordon
Issued by Craig Gordon on
Thursday morning, February 20, 2025
In the windzone, at and above treeline in terrain facing the north half of the compass, you'll find CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger today. Human triggered avalanches are LIKELY, especially in steep wind drifted terrain, and particularly on slopes with an easterly component to their aspect. Once initiated, avalanches may break to older layers of snow, delivering a dangerously large slide that'll throw a curve ball at your day.
Mid elevation shady terrain offers MODERATE avalanche hazard and a more straightforward setup. Human triggered storm snow avalanches are POSSIBLE on steep wind drifted slopes.
The riding is firing and it's easy to have an absolute blast by avoiding avalanche terrain altogether. Meadow skipping, low elevation, low angle terrain with no overhead hazard offers plenty of options and generally LOW avalanche danger.
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
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Weather and Snow
Nowcast- Mostly cloudy skies usher in a quick hitting storm that began at the turn of the new day and so far delivers a thin coat of white paint across the region... just about 2" of snow with .23" H20. Southerly winds blow in the teens, gusting into the low 30's near the high peaks, while temperatures register in the mid to upper 20's. On a go anywhere base, riding conditions in the Uinta's are five star and firing!
Forecast- Today's storm kicks into gear before sunrise and we'll see a good shot of snow materialize. Not a barnstormer, more like a free refill at the local Swig drive through, stacking up 6"-10" of snow by the time you pick up the kids from this afternoon's swim meet. Westerly winds remain fairly well-behaved with a few gusts in the 30's near the high peaks from about midday through dinnertime. High temperatures don't stray much from where we're at this morning and with clearing skies, dive into the teens overnight.
Futurecast- Dry, high pressure wraps up the workweek and continues through the weekend.
Our good friends at the City of Salt's National Weather Service hoisted a Winter Weather Advisory for the Uinta zone that rolls through a good portion of the day.
Recent Avalanches
Clear skies gave us a minute to look around at last weeks carnage. Tough to see and now reloaded, Moffit Peak's Northwest Bowl (the place was an absolute sandbox a week ago), produced a wall to wall piece of snow running 1000' vertical. We suspect a time stamp of 2/14 or 2/15. Big thanks Trevor Katz for the sharp eye and image capture.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Chad B and Micheal Davis were in the Mill Hollow and Currant Creek zones Tuesday and their pit profile above reflects a common sentiment with terrain that still harbors weak snow and shallow depth. Chad and Mike commented.... "The weak-faceted snow is still untrustworthy.... I feel it would just take a shallow spot to be able to trigger an avalanche on these facets."
Last weeks big dose of snow and water weight (40" snow with nearly 4" of SWE... colossal numbers for the western Uinta's) help aid in strengthening our snowpack and I suspect we're headed in the right direction. But here's where it gets tricky... while many slopes avalanched this past week, there's still plenty more waiting for us to roll along and knock the legs out from underneath. There is no threading the needle. Persistent slab avalanches are unmanageable and the strategy is avoidance. I'm simply avoiding the school of migrating white sharks that are feeding on steep, mid and upper elevation slopes facing the north half of the compass. I refuse to be the guy in the wetsuit that looks like a seal. Eventually the apex predators move on and we'll be good to go... but now is not the time to roll the dice, 'cause a miscalculation produces a day ruining result.
Avalanche Problem #2
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
24 hour wind run from Windy Peak (10,661') illustrates trends, velocity, and direction in the wind zone.
Southerly winds bumping into the 20's drift today's storm snow to leeward slopes facing the north half of the compass. Today's drifts feel manageable to me but I remind myself that even a relatively small avalanche could get quickly out of hand if it steps-down or fails on weak, faceted snow now buried deeply in our snowpack, and that'll pack a bigger punch than you might expect. This is a straight-forward avalanche problem and easily avoided by seeking out wind sheltered terrain.
General Announcements
We are always looking for snow and avalanche observations or just general riding conditions. In the meantime reach out to us with questions, concerns, or if you see anything in your travels! Contact us directly through the info below:
  • Craig Gordon | Craig@utahavalanchecenter.org, 801-231-2170, or
  • Andrew Nassetta | Andy@utahavalanchecenter.org, 860-460-8142.
This forecast is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This forecast describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur. This forecast was issued on Thursday, February 20th at 04:00 AM and expires 24 hours after it was issued.
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