Winds are currently nuking across the mid and upper elevations with speeds of 20-30 mph gusting into the 40's. With 9-14" of new snow expected you can be certain to find fresh drifts of wind blown snow on all aspects at the mid and upper elevations. If the snow looks pillowy, fat/rounded that's a wind drift. Avoid being on steep slopes with new drifts of wind blown snow. Depending on how fast the storm snow falls we could see a period of new snow avalanches that fail within the new storm snow, especially on the steeper terrain.

There is a chance on the high elevation northerly terrain that an avalanche could fail into old weak faceted snow or on an icy crust. This would be very easy to find - take out your shovel and dig down to the dirt, if the snow is falling on bare ground then there is no old weak snow. If you are seeing a small layer of old, gray, dull looking snow, it's probably sugary and faceted, or a slick crust, that slope should be avoided. Remember to always dig your snowpits out of avalanche terrain. We have not had many reports from the Ogden area so if you're getting out an observation would be appreciated.