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Forecast for the Uintas Area Mountains

Mark Staples
Issued by Mark Staples on
Monday morning, April 10, 2023
With a light refreeze overnight, wet avalanches will become possible again today. They will be more likely as the day heats up. Also massive cornices may break and fall downhill today.
The avalanche danger on all aspects and elevations is MODERATE.
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
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Weather and Snow
Nowcast- Winds were light and skies were clear overnight with most weather stations recording temperatures at or just below freezing.
Forecast- Another sunny day with even warmer temperatures today and high temperatures climbing into the upper 30s F and maybe into the low 40s F. Winds will remain light.
Futurecast- A trough of low pressure arrives and a cold front arrives Wednesday night. It should bring a dusting of snow and colder temperatures.
You'll have to go to the highest elevation, north facing slopes to find dry snow. All other slopes will have an ice crust on them this morning that will quickly soften and the snow will become wet.
Detailed trip reports and recent obs are found HERE.
Recent Avalanches
Loose wet avalanches were spotted Saturday in Norway Flats (photo). There were likely many more yesterday..
Photo - E. Primmer
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Avalanche Problem #1
Wet Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
There was a shallow refreeze of the snowpack last night, and the snow on most slopes will become wet quickly. As it does wet loose avalanches will become more likely starting on easterly aspects and moving to south, then west facing slopes. There is a lower likelihood of wet avalanches on northerly facing slopes but they will become wet too and wet loose avalanches will be possible.
We haven't seen an evidence of big wet slab avalanches in the Uintas, but they have happened in the Wasatch which experienced a more rapid warm up. A good example of a massive wet slab avalanche happened in the Provo area mountains on Saturday.
Avalanche Problem #2
Cornice
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Cornices are massive and should be falling on their own today. Avoid being under cornices.
Additional Information
Observations-
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General Announcements
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.