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Forecast for the Ogden Area Mountains

Evelyn Lees
Issued by Evelyn Lees for
Friday, December 7, 2018
The Ogden area mountains have a mostly LOW avalanche danger, but a low danger does not mean no danger. Small avalanches could be triggered in isolated places – perhaps a wind drift along a high ridgeline, a sluff on a very steep, northerly facing slope or a slide releasing on the facets near the ground on an upper elevation, very shady slope. Terrain that’s super steep or above cliffs, trees or gullies has higher consequences, even if you are caught in a small slide. Carry and practice with your beacon, shovel and probe.
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Weather and Snow
Under clear skies, temperatures in the Ogden area mountains are mostly in the 20s this morning. The southwesterly winds are amazingly light at all elevations, and should remain in the 5 to 15 mph range for at least another 24 hours. Temperatures will warm into the low to mid 30s today, and skies may become partly cloudy. High pressure will continue into early next week, and the next chance for a real shot of snow isn’t until Wednesday night. Snow depths have settled to around 3 feet at the mid and upper elevations, with just under 2 feet at the Ben Lomond trailhead. Sunny slopes may be crusted, but shady slopes still have good powder, with just a little wind damage along the high ridgelines.
Recent Avalanches
Wednesday, on Ben Lomond Peak, skiers were able to easily trigger shallow slabs of wind drifted snow. See the great video below to see what these wind slabs looked like. I suspect these will have settled out today and be much harder to trigger.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Normal Caution
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The Ogden mountains may have some of the strongest, most stable snow across the state. The reason is that these mountains had almost no snow on the ground prior to Thanksgiving. There are a few upper elevation, shady slopes that had a little bit of this old snow. It is a very thin layer, but could produce an avalanche. Snowmobilers found this layer yesterday (video below) Whiskey Hill in the Monte Cristo area. Fortunately this layer has not produced avalanches in the Ogden area. Just in case, make sure to only expose one person at a time to avalanche terrain and to watch them from a safe location. Being prepared even when there seems to be little threat of avalanches can make the difference between life and death.
Also look for and avoid any wind drifts and cornices from Wednesday's winds, which will be most widespread along the high ridge lines. And it may be possible to trigger a loose sluff on a very steep, shady upper elevations slope.
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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