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Forecast for the Skyline Area Mountains

Craig Gordon
Issued by Craig Gordon on
Wednesday morning, December 19, 2012

Terrain to avoid- steep, upper elevation wind loaded terrain. The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE and dangerous human triggered avalanches are probable, especially in steep, rocky terrain where a solid feeling slab overlies thin, weak snow.

A MODERATE danger exists at mid elevations and human triggered slides are possible

LOW avalanche danger is found on wind sheltered slopes.

Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
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Special Announcements

Avalanche conditions have changed dramatically since Sunday... read below for more details.


Weather and Snow

The Skyline got hammered with over a foot of snow from yesterday's storm. Skies are clearing this morning, temperatures in the single digits, and northerly winds are blowing 10-20 mph.

Recent Avalanches

This natural slide just below the Skyline Summit broke to the ground as a result of Mondays strong wind.

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Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

A weak and complex snowpack exists on the Skyline and avalanche conditions are deceptively tricky. Yesterday's new, light fluffy snow is hiding the dragons in the basement and the solid feeling base will lure us out onto steep slopes before it fails and we trigger a large and dangerous avalanche. You can avoid all this mess by heading to wind sheltered terrain or lower elevation slopes that had no snow prior to Tuesday's storm.

Avalanche Problem #2
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Once initiated, today's shallow wind drifts can quickly get out of hand, breaking into deeper buried weak layers as they crash down onto the slope below creating a larger slide then you might've bargained for.

Additional Information

Clearing skies with daytime highs near 10 degrees. Northwest winds blow 15-25 mph along the ridges. Overnight lows bottom out to near -5 degrees. A warming trend develops tomorrow and we should see partly cloudy skies through Saturday. A weak storm slides into the region Sunday, but it doesn't look like a big snow producer. Not much agreement with the computer models for next week.

General Announcements

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory by submitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can call me directly at 801-231-2170, email [email protected], or email by clicking HERE

This is a great time of year to schedule a free avalanche awareness presentation for your group or club. You can contact me at 801-231-2170 or email [email protected]

Donate to your favorite non-profit –The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center. The UAC depends on contributions from users like you to support our work.

The information in this advisory is from the US Forest Service which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

The advisory expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:00 AM Saturday December 22nd.

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