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Forecast for the Ogden Area Mountains

Drew Hardesty
Issued by Drew Hardesty for
Friday, January 25, 2019
Localized areas of MODERATE danger exist for human triggered avalanches in wind drifted snow. Avoid wind loaded slopes and you'll avoid most avalanches. With such a huge load of snow over the last week, the possibility remains for slides to break deeper in the snowpack on buried persistent weak layers. With warming temps and clearing skies, wet avalanche activity will be on the rise over the weekend. Anytime the sun comes out for prolonged periods of time, the sun-kissed slopes will become wet and unstable.
Wind and sun-sheltered low angle slopes are 4 star. Low Risk, High Reward
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Weather and Snow
Skies are partly cloudy with temps in the upper teens to low 20s. Winds are westerly, blowing 20-25mph with gusts to 30 though the most exposed anemometers are 25-30mph. Most areas picked up a trace overnight and may see another trace during the day. Snow depths are 50-70" on the ground with quite good coverage at the low elevations. It's been a pretty darn good run so far and many areas are 100-115% of average.
Recent Avalanches
No reports of avalanche activity from the backcountry yesterday, but ski area control teams were able to trigger shallow soft slabs with ski cuts and explosives.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Increasingly stubborn shallow wind drifts may be found in the upper elevations and the open exposed terrain. Best to avoid any obvious rounded pillowy drifts in steep terrain.
Avalanche Problem #2
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Older weak layers have been put to the test with the past week's snow and wind. The suspect layering down 1-3' has been spotty but noted along both sides of North Ogden divide but few other areas. Still, these are not to be trusted just yet and pulling out the shovel to determine if these layers are present and active may prevent an unintentionally triggered avalanche. These layers have been noted on on a number of aspects - including southeast - even at the low elevations. Overall stability is trending upwards.
Additional Information
High pressure builds into the area for the weekend with clearing skies and warming temps. Another possible but weak storm for Monday. Beyond that, a pattern change set for the first of the month.
General Announcements
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This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done. 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.
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