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Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Nikki Champion
Issued by Nikki Champion on
Tuesday morning, January 25, 2022
Overall the avalanche danger is generally LOW, but areas of MODERATE avalanche danger exist in the upper elevations where small sensitive wind drifts up to a foot deep are possible. You still may encounter loose-dry snow (sluffing) within the steepest terrain on wind-protected north-facing aspects.
Evaluate snow and terrain carefully, and continue to maintain normal safe travel protocols of only exposing one person at a time to avalanche terrain. If you were to trigger a slide, your only hope of surviving will be having partners watching you from a safe location.
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Special Announcements
Thanks to the generous support of our local resorts and Ski Utah, discount lift tickets are now available. Support the UAC while you ski at the resorts this season. Tickets are available here.
Weather and Snow
Currently: Skies are overcast and temperatures range in the low teens F. Northwest winds remained elevated overnight with gusts in the 30s mph at the mid-elevations. At the upper elevations, winds were much stronger, averaging in the '30s and '40s with gusts in the 50's mph. Overnight the mountains got about an inch of new snow.
For today, there could be some light snow early this morning with skies becoming overcast this afternoon. Temperatures will climb into the mid-20s F. The northwest winds will continue to decrease, with an average in the low teens with gusts below 30 mph at the mid-elevations, while averaging in the low 20s mph with gusts near 30 along the exposed ridges at the upper elevations.
Clear skies this past weekend have weakened the snow surface, with the 2-4" of snow from this past Thursday/Friday turning to facets and surface hoar. Although this means soft, dry snow can still be found on the sun and wind-sheltered slopes providing decent travel and riding conditions, the snow at the surface may be a potential weak layer with any future storms.
Drew's photo from Sunday in Broads Fork shows the top 4-6" of the snowpack:
Recent Avalanches
No backcountry avalanches were reported, but ski resorts have been able to get a few upper elevation wind slabs to pull out with explosives both yesterday afternoon and this morning.
You can find all observations HERE.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Over the last 24 hours, the Northwest winds have been gusting up to 60 mph at upper elevations. While there isn't a ton of soft snow available for transport, with elevated winds any weakening snow, or lingering new snow that is available for transport, will be transported. For that reason, I would expect small pockets of fresh wind drifted snow along exposed ridges on all aspects of upper elevations, and specific terrain features that would allow for drifting at mid-elevations, like sub-ridges and gullies. Although drifts will be relatively shallow (up to 12") and not very wide, these wind drifts may be sensitive if they have formed on top of weaker snow underneath.
Evaluate each slope carefully and look for any signs of instability such as cracking in fresh wind drifts, whumping, or textured-looking snow.
In any sheltered areas that were not impacted by the wind, you may be able to find fast and long-running sluffing of dry snow on steep northerly aspects. Although these sluffs won't entrain much snow, getting caught in even a small avalanche today could be serious in consequential terrain.
General Announcements
Who's up for some free avalanche training? Get a refresher, become better prepared for an upcoming avalanche class, or just boost your skills. Go to https://learn.kbyg.org/ and scroll down to Step 2 for a series of interactive online avalanche courses produced by the UAC.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE GENERAL INFO AND FAQ
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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