SAVE THE DATES!
Saturday, December 6th - Our 18th Annual Utah Snow and Avalanche Workshop (USAW). This session will be held in-person at the Wasatch Jr High School Auditorium. 3750 S 3100 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84109. Information and tickets are available here.
Avalanche Awareness Week!
The 7th Annual Avalanche Awareness is the first week of December! This week is jam-packed with events to get you ready for the season and a chance to connect with other backcountry users. We hope to see you out there!
Cold-Clear-Dry-Wildflower
High Diamonds Lurk for Later
Seeds taller than Snow
Thanksgiving haiku by Dave Kelly
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Today will be partly cloudy with mountain temps in the low 30s up high, the mid-40s down low. Winds will be light from the west, blowing 15-20mph, but increasing in advance of a weak storm system slated for tomorrow. We might squeeze a trace to 2" by late Friday, with the emphasis on "might". Temps drop into the teens and low 20s up high behind the cold front. Another system with some promise arrives Sunday that might offer 3-6" of snow. A third storm is slated for early to mid-week but there are hints that it splits and cuts off entirely from the main flow and backs to the southwest. This is a difficult pattern for us and we'll keep watching and waiting.
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Although we are not issuing danger ratings or denoting avalanche problems yet, the staff generally agrees that some problematic weak faceted snow exists on upper elevation northwest, north, and northeast facing slopes and some patchy snow in the shady mid-elevation bands. My estimate is of roughly 4-8" of weak sugary snow in the high country. Please let us know if we are missing something.
For weeks, I had been optimistic that (owing to the very dry early season) we wouldn't have much old weak snow to deal with, but now my glass is half-empty.
This is the time of year when it becomes especially important to note what coverage exists. It's worth noting where the dirt is because it might be the safest place to ride once storms really start rolling for us. Slopes with old snow will be guilty until proven innocent.
Forecaster Bo Torrey was in the south fork on the 23rd and his observation is HERE
Snow coverage in Shingle Mill at 9800'.
