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Forecast for the Ogden Area Mountains

Evelyn Lees
Issued by Evelyn Lees for
Sunday, December 4, 2016

The Avalanche Danger today is MODERATE on any steep slope with recent drifts of wind blown snow. These drifts will be most widespread at the upper elevations and found on a variety of aspects. There is also on MODERATE danger on upper elevation northerly facing slopes where there is an isolated chance of triggering a deeper slide breaking on the facets near the ground. You will find a LOW Avalanche Danger on low and mid elevations slopes out of the wind.

You do not want to take a ride even in a small avalanche, as you could easily be injured with the shallow snow barely covering the rocks and dead-fall.

Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
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Special Announcements


Also read the Week in Review Blog. It’s a summary of the weather and avalanche events created Friday evening, with separate sections for the Logan, Uinta, Wasatch and Manti/Skyline area mountains. It's a new product we are experimenting with, hoping it will help people keep up with the changes in snowpack and avalanche conditions.

Weather and Snow

The winds shifted to a southwesterly direction, and temperatures are warmer now than anytime yesterday - in the low 20s at the 8000' level and in the teens along the higher ridge lines. Winds speeds have increased, too, averaging to 25 mph with gusts to 30 in the highest terrain, and 10 to 15 mph with gusts to 25 at the mid elevations. Skies are clear to partly cloudy.

No new snow has fallen since Thursday's few inches, and the more supportable snow is making backcountry travel easier. Riding conditions remain good above about 8000', though some south and westerly facing slopes developed thin crusts - sun, wind (and maybe rime?).

The best riding conditions will be on sheltered, shady slopes that are smooth beneath. It's still a shallow snow pack, with less than 30" at the upper elevation, decreasing to about 10" at some of the lower trail heads. Hitting rocks and stumps remains likely, especially on steeper slopes.

Recent Avalanches

No avalanches have been reported in the Ogden area mountains or throughout the range since Wednesday. The last notable avalanche occurred in Big Cottonwood Canyon Wednesday in East Bowl of Silver Fork, which failed on facets on the ground.

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Avalanche Problem #1
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Yesterday, the strongest winds were just scraping the tops of the higher peaks. Today, the winds have dropped lower, and will be drifting snow on more slopes, at both upper and even some mid elevations. Watch for and avoid the new wind drifts on steep slopes on a variety of aspects. Jump on small test slopes, and look for cracking of the snow or denser, pillowy deposits. The longer and deeper the cracks, the large and more sensitive the wind drift is. The new wind drifts could be particularity sensitive where they are sitting on some of those thin crusts.

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

The early season snow lingered on only the upper elevation northwest, north and northeast facing slopes in the Ogden area mountains, forming a very thin faceted layer of snow on the ground. It's hard to ignore the poor snowpack structure on these aspects and elevations, even if they are not currently producing avalanches. There are only isolated places where on could trigger an avalanche on these aspects - high elevation slopes with a northerly aspect that had snow from earlier in the season and a smooth ground surface, like smooth rock or grassy slopes, where a thin layer of facets lies uninterrupted.

Additional Information

There will be increasing clouds today ahead of a weak storm which will reach the northern Wasatch mountains tonight. This could bring 2 to 5" of low density snow by Monday evening, and drop temperatures back into the teens and single digits. A second colder storm late Monday night into Tuesday will produce another couple of inches of snow and bring even colder air.

Sunday - Cloudy, with a 20 percent chance of snow in the afternoon. Highs warming into the upper 30s. Breezy.

Sunday Night - Windy, with southwest winds 15 to 25 mph, switching to the west and increasing into the 20 to 30 mph range. 2 to 5 inches of snow possible, mostly after midnight. Temperatures dropping into the teens and single digits.

Monday - Mostly cloudy, breezy and cold, with winds shifting to the northwest. Temperatures will be in the single digits and teens, with a chance for a few snow flurries.

General Announcements

On Wednesday December 7th the UAC is hosting the 13th annual Pray for Snow Party and Fundraiser in Logan. Details here.

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please help us out by submitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can also call us at 801-524-5304, email by clicking HERE, or include #utavy in your tweet or Instagram.

To get help in an emergency (to request a rescue) in the Wasatch, call 911. Be prepared to give your GPS coordinates or the run name. Dispatchers have a copy of the Wasatch Backcountry Ski map.

Backcountry Emergencies. It outlines your step-by-step method in the event of a winter backcountry incident.

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry, but no one is hurt and you do not need assistance, please notify the nearest ski area dispatch to avoid a needless response by rescue teams. Thanks.

EMAIL ADVISORY If you would like to get the daily advisory by email you will need to subscribe here.​

TWITTER Updates for your mobile phone - DETAILS

Utah Avalanche Center mobile app - Get your advisory on your iPhone along with great navigation and rescue tools.

Lost or Found something in the backcountry? - http://nolofo.com/

Ski Utah mobile snow updates

To those skinning uphill at resorts: it is critical to know the resort policy on uphill travel. You can see the uphill travel policy for each resort here.

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you shop from Backcountry.com or REI: Click this link for Backcountry.com or this link to REI, shop, and they will donate a percent of your purchase price to the UAC. Both offer free shipping (with some conditions) so this costs you nothing!

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you buy or sell on ebay - set the Utah Avalanche Center as a favorite non-profit in your ebay account here and click on ebay gives when you buy or sell. You can choose to have your seller fees donated to the UAC, which doesn't cost you a penny.

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 exist.

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