Forecast: Salt Lake Area Mountains - Utah Avalanche Center

Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Issued by Dave Kelly on
Saturday morning, January 4, 2025

Today, the avalanche danger is HIGH in upper elevation terrain as a new storm moves in and further stresses our buried facets. The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE at mid elevations and MODERATE in low elevation terrain.

Avoid all terrain greater than 30° in steepness that has a layer of buried facets near the ground. This weak layer has been the culprit in two accidents in the last week and there have been numerous reports of avalanches 2'-4' deep and up to 800' wide over the last 4 days.

Low

Moderate

Considerable

High

Extreme

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Special Announcements

Join the UAC and Backcountry Ready at Skimo CO at 7PM on January 6 for an After the Avalanche Wilderness First Aid discussion.

Weather and Snow

Under overcast skies it is snowing heavily. There is currently 2"-6" of new snow since it started snowing at 4:30AM. Trailhead temperatures are in the low 30's °F and the highest ridgelines are in the mid 20's °F. Winds are blowing from the west in the mid-teens gusting to the 30's MPH at the 9,000' ridgelines and from the northwest in the mid 20's gusting to the 40's MPH at the highest weather stations. Overnight max gusts were in the 60's to the 80's MPH.

Today, under overcast skies look for dropping temperatures with a high of 22-28 °F. Winds will shift to the northwest 10 gusting to 15 MPH at the lower ridgelines and 35 gusting to 45 MPH at the highest peaks. We can expect to see snow, heavy at times 9"-17" with .60"-1.15" water. If the winds maintain from the northwest the Upper Cottonwoods could expect to see 22"-24" of new snow by the end of the day.

The snowpack does not like rapid change and your best bet to enjoy this newest snow is to stay out of avalanche terrain and stick to lower angle slopes less than 30 ° in steepness.

Recent Avalanches

Since January 1, 2025 we have had 8 backcountry avalanches reported to the Utah Avalanche Center from the Salt Lake Region. 6 of these have failed on a persistent weak layer of snow that is now buried 1'-4' deep. The below avalanches were reported to the UAC yesterday.

Kessler 2.5' deep x 300' wide x 1000' vertical- skier triggered avalanche failing on buried facets (occurred on Thursday, January 2, 2025)

Superior 4' deep x 400' wide x 1200' vertical- cornice triggered avalanche (occurred on January 2, 2025 10PM)
Days Fork- Two Dogs- 3.5' deep x 80' wide x 600' vertical

Days Fork-Upper Days- 3.5' wide x 175' wide x 600' vertical

Cardiff Bowl- 100' wide x 250' vertical- wind drifted snow failing on buried facets

Check out all recent observations and avalanches HERE.

Type

Location

Likelihood

Size

Description

Additional snowfall and strong winds will continue to stress the buried persistent weak layer that has been the culprit in multiple avalanches and the two recent avalanche fatalities in the Central Wasatch (Porter Fork and Davenport Hill).

Photo below (White) of deep cracks in Cardiff Fork. These cracks as well as collapsing and whumpfing are signs that the buried facets are still reactive. If this slope had been any steeper this would have been an avalanche.

Type

Location

Likelihood

Size

Description

Stiff wind drifts that formed during high winds yesterday and overnight are now covered over by new snow and will be hard to see. With gusts to the 70's at exposed ridges at 9,400' overnight these drifts will be lower on the slope than you may expect and I will be avoiding these areas of wind drifted snow today.

These avalanches in Upper Days Fork were most likely wind drifted snow over the top of the buried persistent weak layer of facets. Check out Drew's observation below.

Type

Location

Likelihood

Size

Description

Expect to see soft slabs of storm snow that may be 12"-24" deep and deeper if they have been affected by wind. These soft slabs will be more than enough to catch and carry a human. When combined with the buried persistent weak layer could prove fatal on steep north-east facing aspects. During periods of increased snowfall there will be natural avalanches that run on density changes within the storm snow and you may see long running dry loose avalanches in steep terrain on all aspects.

Additional Information

Researchers Ian McCammon and Kelly McNeil looked into safety habits that would increase our margins of safety. Please take a moment to look over these Six Tips That Could Save Your Life.

General Announcements

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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.

Observations and Avalanches

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