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Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Nikki Champion
Issued by Nikki Champion on
Tuesday morning, December 2, 2025

Welcome to Winter 2025-2026. Today, we will begin issuing daily danger ratings.

If you’re heading out, keep your guard up on mid- and upper-elevation slopes facing northwest through north and east, as well as on mid-elevation terrain above about 8,500 feet, especially ridgetops and features that have received additional wind. These areas have a MODERATE danger for small avalanches on slopes holding old, weak faceted snow. The snowpack is thin, faceted, and just starting to wake up for the season.

The catch is that these north-facing slopes hold the most snow and will look the best to ride, but they’re also the most suspect. Southerly-facing slopes were mostly bare before this storm.

Beyond the weak snowpack, the main risk comes from shallow terrain with rocks, stumps, or any fall that could be serious. Coverage is low to non-existent on aspects shown in grey on the danger rose, so keep that in mind and follow safe travel practices.

Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
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Special Announcements

Avalanche Awareness Week starts December 1! Events are happening daily across the state to prepare you for winter and get you thinking about avalanche safety.

Find out about all our events HERE. And don't forget the Utah Snow and Avalanche Workshop is Saturday, December 6, with in-person and virtual options!

Just a few of the upcoming events this week:

Weather and Snow

This morning, under broken skies, mountain temperatures range from the low teens F to the low 20s F. Winds have stayed out of the northwest for more than two days and picked up overnight, blowing 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 35 mph at the ridgetops and up to 60 mph along the highest ridgelines.

Today, we can expect spotty light snowfall starting around midday, with the bulk of the cold front pushing through this evening. Snow totals have come down and are now in the 2 to 5 inch range, with up to 0.40 inches of water. Temperatures climb into the mid 20s F. Winds stay elevated out of the west and northwest, blowing 5 to 10 mph with gusts in the 20s on mid-elevation ridges and up to 50 mph on the highest ridgetops.

By late Thursday night into Friday, a warmer and wetter pattern starts moving in. Snow levels stay low at first, then rise above about 5000 feet during the day Friday. Above that, the northern mountains look lined up for steady snowfall through Friday and into Saturday, while the valleys trend more toward rain. Central and southern Utah look drier with this round.

Recent Avalanches

Yesterday we had a few new avalanche reports trickle in. In the Alta zone, an animal triggered a soft slab on High Rustler at 9700 feet on a north-facing slope. Nearby, a shallow soft slab of wind-drifted snow was kicked off in Catherine's Pass on a northeast aspect at 10,300 feet.

Catherines Pass - Shallow Wind Slab - NE Aspect 10300' - J. Persons

Across the drainage, Mark White found a few large loose dry avalanches that ran out of the northeast-facing chutes off the top of the Cardiac Ridge , around 10,100 feet, failing on old snow.

Large dry loose off Cardiac Ridge - NE Aspect - 10,100' - M. White

Be sure to check out all observations HERE.

Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

After a few small storms of incremental loading this October and November, upper-elevation north-facing slopes now hold an interface of weak facets and crusts, forming the base of the snowpack. While most pronounced at higher elevations, this weak layer also extends down to around 8500 feet into the mid-elevation band.

Currently, this issue is not widespread. The main concern today is in areas that held old snow and received some wind. Overnight, westerly winds ramped up to nearly 60 mph. With strong winds, small wind drifts can form on upper-elevation slopes and mid-elevation terrain features prone to drifting.

The catch is that these are exactly the slopes that will look the best to ride, and sadly, they’ll be the most suspect. The other side of it is that southerly-facing slopes, which don’t hold the weak faceted snow, were mostly bare before this storm and aren’t really worth riding right now either.

As additional snow or wind adds load to this weak faceted snowpack, avalanche danger will increase, so continue to pay attention to which slopes held snow prior to the incoming storms.

Below, Trent talks about the snow set up on 11/28

General Announcements

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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