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Forecast for the Ogden Area Mountains

Trent Meisenheimer
Issued by Trent Meisenheimer on
Sunday morning, December 1, 2019
The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE on upper elevations facing northwest through east where avalanches may fail on a weak layer of snow down at the ground. The avalanche danger is MODERATE on all mid and upper elevation aspects that DO NOT have old snow for triggering wind drifted snow avalanches. At low elevations the Danger is LOW.
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Special Announcements
The First Annual Statewide Avalanche Awareness Week is December 2-7. We have a week full of fun and educational events planned. Check out the schedule here.
Drew Hardesty released the first UAC podcast of the season " Early Season Essentials with Program Director Bo Torrey" check it out HERE.
Weather and Snow
The last snowflakes fell yesterday morning ending an epic weather cycle for the state of Utah. Under partly cloudy skies this morning we should see periods of filtered sun as thin clouds stream overhead from the west throughout the day. Temperatures are in the teens °F at the upper elevations while the lower elevation trail-heads sit in the single digits °F. The northerly winds have calmed down this morning as the flow slowly switches to the west-south-west. Upper elevation anemometers are currently spinning from the west at 5-10 mph gusting 15-20 mph. Below the ridgelines the wind is calm.
Later this afternoon temperatures will climb into the mid 20's °F at 9,000' in elevation. Clouds will fill in, winds increase from the west and we could squeeze a few snowflakes from the atmosphere overnight. Later in the week (Wednesday) it looks like we could see some snow in the 3-6" range. Stay tuned.
Total snow since Monday the 25th is as follows:
  • Wasatch Mountains: 50-70" snow (3.5 - 4.34" h20)
  • Park City Ridgline: 30-40" snow (2.5 - 3.0" h20)
  • Ogden Mountains: 40-50" snow (4.0 - 4.8" h20)
  • Provo Mountains: 24-33" snow (1.6 - 2.1" h20)
Our week in review (including a summary of the early season) can be found HERE.
Recent Avalanches
No new avalanches were reported from the Ogden backcountry yesterday. Snow safety teams reported minimal results with explosives. Megan, Bill, Lee have an excellent observation from Cutler Ridge found HERE.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
The Ogden area had less old pre-existing snow before the Thanksgiving storm cycle. The good news: is that many aspects and elevations have been spared this weak layer of snow. However, we cannot rule out high elevation northwest through easterly facing slopes just yet. We need more information! Snow safety teams as well as UAC center staff consider this terrain suspect for the time being.
Heavy snowfall over the past week combined with strong winds from the south and north has potentially overloaded this weak snow, creating areas where avalanches failing down at the ground are possible. For now dangerous avalanche conditions exist here and careful route-finding and conservative decision making is essential. Natural avalanches possible and human triggered slides are likely.
Avalanche Problem #2
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
The new snow and wind has been relentless over the past week blowing from every direction across many different aspects and elevations. For today, look for and avoid hard and soft slabs of wind drifted snow. These drifts of wind blown snow can be found across many terrain features, cross loaded into gullies and found on mid-slope rollovers. Look for signs of sensitive wind drifted snow, such as shooting cracks, pillowy rounded snow, hollow sounding snow, and avoid those areas.
General Announcements
CLICK HERE FOR MORE GENERAL INFO AND FAQ
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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