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Forecast for the Uintas Area Mountains

Craig Gordon
Issued by Craig Gordon on
Thursday morning, April 6, 2023
It's a tale of two distinctly different avalanche dragons as cold storm snow gets its first taste of warming temperatures and strong spring sunshine-
In the wind zone, above treeline, you'll find HIGH avalanche danger, especially in terrain facing the north half of the compass. Steep, rocky, upper elevation slopes, are particularly sketchy where human triggered, dry snow avalanches are VERY LIKELY. Lose elevation and warm temperatures deliver damp snow characteristics. The avalanche danger rises to CONSIDERABLE and human triggered avalanches are LIKELY on all steep, sun exposed slopes, especially during the heat of the day.
I know you wanna ride and avoid either avalanche dragon today and that's easy to do- get out and get after it early before the sun beats you to the punch. Choose low angle, wind sheltered terrain with no overhead hazard and get off the snow before it takes on heat.

Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
Learn how to read the forecast here
Special Announcements
My personal March Madness journey brought me to the Final Four of the avalanche forecast season and that means I'll be wrapping up daily forecasts in four days, on Sunday April 9th. For me, it simply means I'll be taking a step back from snow and onto a sunny beach that leads me to my annual spring surf trip to Mexico :)
But don't let your heart be troubled... you'll still be able to tap into Uinta forecast info from the crew that Keeps You On Top of the Greatest Snow on Earth (we've got ya covered).
Weather and Snow
Nowcast- At o'dark thirty, a slightly waning Pink Moon casts surreal light on our big, beautiful mountains. With a fat snowpack covering nearly every square inch of terrain, the range exhibits a Nepalese texture, vastness, and a downright stunning appearance. Adding to the visual depth is the storm snow depth which I clearly underestimated because Monday's storm simply pasted the region with nearly 30" of in-yer-face, low density, uber-fluff. Cold air settled into the region overnight and temperatures register in the single digits. Winds are light and westerly. blowing just 10-15 mph even near the high peaks. Total settled snow depths are Herculean with most remote weather stations reporting over 100", so that means riding and turning conditions are all-time. And with yesterday's fluffy, light topper... it's over-the-hood and over-the head!
Forecast- High pressure brings a big shift to the weather pattern. Look for a stunning day with clear skies, light winds, and temperatures climbing into the mid 20's. Overnight lows dip into the teens.
Futurecast- A break in the weather is slated to linger through the weekend.
Trip Reports-
Micheal J was in the Hoyt Environs yesterday and reports bottomless snow and excellent riding conditions.
My crew was in Upper Weber Canyon and found long running sluffs on sustained steep, wind sheltered terrain.
Detailed trip reports and recent obs are found HERE.
Avy-savvy-snow-pro Bo Torrey taps into an aquatic animal spirit, channeling his inner Porpoise and coming up for air in between turns during yesterday's ridiculously deep day.
Recent Avalanches
Not particularly shocking, long running sluffs and shallow soft slabs were Wednesday's avalanche flavor of the day.
In addition, plenty of avy activity to peruse if ya wanna geek out. Click HERE to track this years slide activity throughout the range.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
While the vast majority of our recent wind drifts have settled and won't be quite as reactive to our additional weight, I bet if you wanted to trigger an avalanche, there's a steep, upper elevation slope with your name on it. And remember... the snowpack is still trying to adjust to several weeks worth of storm snow and there's an outside chance avalanches will break deeper and wider than you might expect, perhaps failing on a weaker layer or density inversion, now buried deeply in our snowpack. Now, here's where the rubber hits the road... once triggered, todays avalanches can easily boss you around. The good news is... there's plenty of terrain you can ride today and not have any issues. In fact, you can have a great day of riding by avoiding steep, wind drifted terrain and by steering clear of fat and rounded pieces of snow or slopes that sound hollow like a drum. Done, done, and done :)

Avalanche Problem #2
Wet Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
The sun is high in the sky and it's penetrating all aspects and nearly all elevations, except for high north. Heads up... this is gonna be the first taste of warming the cold storm snow experiences and it's gonna become reactive. As the cold snow takes on heat, you'll wanna consider getting off of and out from under steep, sun baked slopes, especially during the heat of the day.
Additional Information
Weather stations-
And... rime events from January's atmospheric rivers severely crippled the Uinta weather station network. I'm working to get it back up and running, but a few stations are found HERE (click weather stations, and then on the Western Uinta tab)
Observations-
Your observations are important, so please let me know what you're seeing... click HERE and contribute to this amazing community-based program
General Announcements
Issued at 03:03 on Thursday April 6th this forecast expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but will be updated by 07:00 Friday April 7th 2023.
Before it gets too crazy, now is the time to book an avalanche awareness presentation for your group, club, or posse. You can reach Craig directly at 801-231-2170 or craig@utahavalanchecenter.org.

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.