This will be a working document detailing the progression of this season's Persistent Weak Layer of loose, sugary faceted snow that formed in mid November. This is for the Manti Skyline region but similarities exist in many other regions. EARLY SNOW: Nov 2 through Nov 9, 2022 A series of storms moved through leaving about 2 feet of new snow by Nov 9. The snow was quite supportable meaning you could travel on it quite easy with skis and even snowmobiles to a certain extent. It provided some of the best early season riding conditions we've seen in a long time. PERSISTENT …

Our Week in Review highlights significant snowfall, weather, and avalanche events of the prior week. (Review the archived forecasts for the Salt Lake mountains.) The danger roses for the Salt Lake mountains from Friday, December 2 through Thursday, December 8: Summary: The best way to get caught up on early winter weather is by first reading Mark Staple's excellent blog Weather and Snow Summary Fall 2022. 35 avalanches are reported to the UAC over this past week with avalanche activity focusing on aspects facing west through north and east where a buried …

Weather and Snow Summary Fall 2022 To help understand the current avalanche situation, it helps to briefly review weather from this fall and its effect on the snowpack. This discussion focuses on the mountains of northern Utah. It is still relevant to other areas like the Skyline and La Sal mountains, but those places have had different weather patterns. Here are the major weather events. Graphs (scroll to the bottom) from NRCS SNOTEL sites around the state show these precipitation patterns. There are also two graphs showing winds and temperatures. Dry and warm fall with …

[Note: The Week in Review is published once the winter season is firmly established, typically in early December. Given the amount of snowfall from this past week, we will publish an early-season Week in Review, with regular updates as conditions warrant.] Our Week in Review highlights significant snowfall, weather, and avalanche events of the prior week. (Review the archived forecasts for the Salt Lake mountains.) The danger roses for the Salt Lake mountains from Friday, November 4 through Thursday, November 10: Summary: Early-season snow from October gets …

Utah's 4th Annual Avalanche Awareness Week is Upon Us! Four years ago the Utah Legislature passed House Bill 380, which recognizes the first week of December as Avalanche Awareness Week. Join the Utah Avalanche Center and the Division of Outdoor Recreation to celebrate the Fourth Annual Avalanche Awareness week, from December 4 - December 11. The goal of this week is to ultimately save lives through activities that promote avalanche awareness, education, and safety. We have a variety of events to promote avalanche safety this week. See the list of events below to find one near …

Wet Avalanches (Originally published March 13, 2013) When it comes to wet snow avalanches, a lot of good, but general, simplifications are thrown around, such as watch out for the first warm day, rain on cold snow, 3 non-freezing nights lead to wet slab avalanches, etc. It’s certainly a lot more complicated, but less studied than dry snow avalanches. Every other year, at the National Avalanche School, one of my favorite talks is Larry Heywood’s “Wet Snow Forecasting and Control”. Looking back through my NAS 2011 notes, here are a few …

I wanted to follow up the original Summary - PWL Avalanches from Feb 19-March 7th to now include March 8th-March 19. The first graph is the original from Feb 19-March 8. The second graph is all inclusive: Feb 19-March 19. Feb 19th - Mar 19th Avalanche Activity Total: 47 avalanches reported Upper Elevation: 11 avalanches Mid-Elevation: 27 avalanches WOW!!!!! Low-Elevation: 9 avalanches A few notes on the recent set of avalanches: Nearly all of the new PWL avalanches ran in the mid-elevations on north-northeast facing …