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Forecast for the Provo Area Mountains

Issued by Bruce Tremper on
Monday morning, December 22, 2014

The avalanche danger remains HIGH above about 8,000' on all aspects, especially on slopes with recent wind deposits. Backcountry travelers should avoid all slopes steeper than 30 degrees and stay out from underneath steeper terrain. If you want steeper terrain today, and you're a skier or boarder, go to a resort where ski patrollers work hard to make the snowpack much safer.

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Learn how to read the forecast here
Avalanche Warning

THIS AVALANCHE WARNING IS FOR THE WASATCH...BEAR RIVER AND WESTERN UINTA MOUNTAIN RANGES...THE WASATCH PLATEAU AND THE CENTRAL UTAH MOUNTAINS.

HEAVY SNOW AND STRONG WINDS HAVE CREATED A HIGH AVALANCHE DANGER. HUMAN TRIGGERED AND NATURAL AVALANCHES CONTINUE TO BE LIKELY TODAY ON TERRAIN STEEPER THAN 30 DEGREES ABOVE 8000 FEET. PEOPLE SHOULD AVOID BEING ON OR BELOW ANY STEEP SNOW COVERED SLOPES UNTIL AVALANCHE CONDITIONS IMPROVE.

THIS WARNING DOES NOT INCLUDE SKI AREAS OR HIGHWAYS WHERE AVALANCHE CONTROL IS NORMALLY DONE.

Special Announcements

Both Little Cottonwood Canyon and the road to Powder Mountain are closed for avalanche control this morning. Monitor UDOT Avalanche (www.udot.utah.gov/avalanche) or follow @UDOTavy, for updates.

Weather and Snow

Wow, I absolutely LOVE a huge storm like this. I love to just stand on a ridge and TAKE IT, to feel the full fury of nature. As long as I can run back to a warm house to dry out.

We've had 1-2 feet of very heavy, dense snow with a water equivalent between 2 and 4 inches. If that's not enough, the wind has been nuking from the west yesterday afternoon and overnight blowing strong enough to tip over a tractor, as we say in my native state of Montana--60 mph and gusting to near or just over 100. Several ski resorts report lots of trees blown over. Yesterday afternoon, the rain snow line rose to nearly 8,000', which made very upside-down, slabby snow.

Overnight, the wind dropped off a bit but it has recently ramped right back up. The 6 inches of snow that fell so far this morning has several layers of dense graupel, that Styrofoam ball type of snow. The 8,000' temperature has dropped from near freezing yesterday afternoon into the mid 20's this morning.

Recent Avalanches

Widespread avalanches occurred yesterday on many aspects above about 8,000'. Most were about a foot deep and skiers triggered some remotely as they approached a slope from a flat ridge above. Today the avalanche will likely be closer to 2 feet deep.

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Avalanche Problem #1
New Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

No sense in putting much of a fine point on it. This brick-like slab of new and wind blown snow has overloaded the very weak layer of faceted snow and fluffy new that was on the snow surface before the storm arrived. At this point, I really don't care what it's sliding on. You can expect remote trigger potential especially on slopes that face the north half of the compass. As usual, the worst problems will be on slopes with recent wind deposits. Avalanches may break 2 feet deep with a very hefty slab that will likely be more destructive than normal. (The grey areas on the rose mean no snow or very little snow.)

Additional Information

We will continue to have another 6 inches or so of new snow today with continued high wind from the northwest, 50, gusting to 80 on the exposed peaks. Snow should slowly end by later in the day, wind will drop and the temperature will continue to fall as colder air sags into our area. On Tuesday, we may get a good day for avalanche fracture line viewing with partly cloudy skies and cool temperatures.

The extended forecast is for more snow on Christmas eve and Christmas morning and mountain temperatures rising up to near freezing again.

General Announcements

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory by submitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can also call us at 801-524-5304, email by clicking HERE, or include #utavy in your tweet or Instagram.

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry - especially if you are adjacent to a ski area – please call the following teams to alert them to the slide and whether anyone is missing or not. Rescue teams can be exposed to significant hazard when responding to avalanches, and do not want to do so when unneeded. Thanks.

Salt Lake and Park City – Alta Central (801-742-2033), Canyons Resort Dispatch (435-615-3322)

Snowbasin Resort Dispatch (801-620-1017), Powder Mountain Dispatch (801-745-3772 x 123).

Sundance Dispatch (801-223-4150)

EMAIL ADVISORY If you would like to get the daily advisory by email you will need to subscribe here.​

DAWN PATROL Hotline updated daily by 5-530am - 888-999-4019 option 8.

Twitter Updates for your mobile phone - DETAILS

UDOT canyon closures: LINK TO UDOT

Utah Avalanche Center mobile app - Get your advisory on your iPhone along with great navigation and rescue tools.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides Blog/Itinerary for the Day.

Lost or Found something in the backcountry? - http://nolofo.com/

Ski Utah mobile snow updates

Discount lift tickets are now available at Backcountry.com with more resorts to come soon. Thanks to Ski Utah and the Utah Resorts. All proceeds go towards paying for Utah Avalanche Center avalanche and mountain weather advisories.

To those skinning uphill at resorts: it is your responsibility to know the resort policy on uphill travel. You can see the uphill travel policy for each resort here. IMPORTANT: Before skinning or hiking at a resort under new snow conditions, check in with Ski Patrol. Resorts can restrict or cut off access if incompatible with control and grooming operations.

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you shop from Backcountry.com or REI: Click this link for Backcountry.com or this link to REI, shop, and they will donate a percent of your purchase price to the UAC. Both offer free shipping (with some conditions) so this costs you nothing!

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you buy or sell on ebay - set the Utah Avalanche Center as a favorite non-profit in your ebay account here and click on ebay gives when you buy or sell. You can choose to have your seller fees donated to the UAC, which doesn't cost you a penny.

This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done. This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always exist.

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