This week is Avalanche Awareness Week. 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.
This morning, temperatures are cold. Trailheads are in 10˚-15 ˚Fahrenheit and upper elevations are in the single digits. Winds are blowing from the NW at 5-15 mph at 9000 feet and 15-25 mph at 11000 ft. Yesterday, some favored locations saw an inch or two of snow, but most locations only received a trace.
Today, skies will be mostly clear with some low clouds obscuring peaks early in the morning that should burn off by late morning. Temperatures rise into the low to mid 20s˚ Fahrenheit. Winds will be light from the WNW at 9000 feet, and 20-30 mph along the upper elevation ridgelines. I expect to see an increase in winds late this afternoon as the storm approaches from the northwest.
This weekend, a significant winter storm moves in late tonight through the weekend with 1 to 2 feet of snow expected. The wet and windy storm favors Northern Utah and locations with a WNW flow. Expect the rain/snow line to rise through Saturday morning to ~7500 feet before the cold front arrives Saturday afternoon. Avalanche danger will quickly rise as snow accumulates.
Our partners are the National Weather Service in SLC have issued a Winter Storm Watch for the Wasatch and Western Uinta Mountains from late tonight through late Saturday night in anticipation of a prolonged period of heavy snowfall.
Yesterday, Pro-observer Mark White remotely triggered a soft slab avalanche in Dry Fork on a northeast-facing slope at 10,400 feet. The avalanche broke 12 inches deep and 30 feet wide. View his full observation here.
His is one of a number of avalanches we heard about this week. You can find more recent activity HERE
