UDOT PLANNED AVALANCHE CLOSURES!!

Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Mark Staples
Issued by Mark Staples for
Tuesday, December 6, 2016

The avalanche danger is LOW today at mid and low elevations and MODERATE at upper elevations where you are more likely to find wind slabs and wind drifted snow.

Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
Learn how to read the forecast here
Special Announcements

The Supreme area at Alta is now closed to backcountry travel.

Please read, please share with others: New Avalanche Explosives Work Backcountry Closure Procedures Going Into Effect.

Weather and Snow

This morning temperatures are in the single digits and low teens F. Winds are blowing westerly at 10-15 mph. Perfect winter weather if you like that sort of thing. Winds Sunday night and Monday morning affected many slopes while other slopes sheltered from the wind still have soft powder, a supportable base, and great riding conditions. An ice crust exists on south facing slopes under an inch or two of light snow.

Question: Which direction was the wind blowing in the photo below?

Answer at the bottom of this page in the "Mountain Weather" section.

Photo (K. Davis) from the Ogden area mountains yesterday

Recent Avalanches

A few, shallow wind slabs were triggered yesterday by ski patrollers with ski cuts.

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

The main problem to watch out for today will be wind slabs formed by increased winds Sunday night and Monday morning. These wind slabs were stubborn and not very sensitive yesterday. Northerly facing slopes have a thin layer of weak, faceted snow at the ground. While this layer is dormant, triggering a wind slab where this layer exists may cause an avalanche to step down and break at the ground. For the best stability and best riding conditions, look for slopes unaffected by the wind.

Additional Information

Today will remain cold with high temperatures in the teens F as a weak storm moves over the area this afternoon. Winds today will blow 5-15 mph and briefly shift to the SW before shifting back to the NW late today as the trough moves east. By tomorrow morning there should be 2-3 inches of new snow. HOWEVER, the main weather story will be cold temperatures tomorrow which should be near 0 degrees F in the mountains. By late Thursday temperatures will start warming as another storm approaches with snow starting to fall Thursday night. This storm promises to bring more snow but it’s unclear how much at this time.

Answer to wind question: Winds were blowing downslope from the right side of the photo to the left side.

General Announcements

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.​

DAWN PATROL Hotline updated daily by 5-530am - 888-999-4019 option 8.

TWITTER Updates for your mobile phone - DETAILS

UDOT canyon closures: LINK TO UDOT, or on Twitter, follow @UDOTavy, @CanyonAlerts or @AltaCentral

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

Powderbird Helicopter Skiing - Blog/itinerary for the day

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.