Forecast: Salt Lake Area Mountains - Utah Avalanche Center

Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Issued by Drew Hardesty on
Tuesday morning, January 7, 2025

The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE. You can trigger large avalanches 2-4'+ thick failing on an old persistent weak layer of faceted snow. You will be able to trigger them from a distance or from below. The most likely place to trigger one of these avalanches is on (or beneath) steep west to north to east facing slopes at the mid and upper elevations.

Watch for blowing and drifting snow with the winds from the EAST at all elevations today.

Low

Moderate

Considerable

High

Extreme

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Weather and Snow

Skies are mostly cloudy but trending clear. Mountain temperatures are in teens to low 20s. Many anemometers are rimed, but the old lick-the-finger-and-hold-it-aloft trick hints at wind speeds of 10-15mph with gusts to 20mph out of the northeast. The highest ridgelines are likely double that. Amid all the riming, the mountains managed to squeeze a trace to two inches overnight on top of a trace to two yesterday. Many observers felt like they were wandering around in the fog.

For today, we'll have partly cloudy skies, temps in the teens and increasing winds from the east northeast. I've often found the models to sandbag (underplay) the windspeeds from the east and northeast, so keep an eye on more blowing and drifting snow than expected.

Another quick hitting storm arrives Wednesday night that should be more wind than snow with another storm on the horizon over the weekend.

Recent Avalanches

Pro observer Will Ambler noted a fresh looking natural hard slab release (9800' East facing) in upper Red Pine of LCC yesterday. I suspect it may have been triggered by cornice fall from above. Over along the Park City ridgeline, avalanche teams noted a fresh looking avalanche in upper McDonald Draw on a steep northeast facing slope at 9700' (Nutty Putty), 2-3' deep and 300' wide. Trigger and timing unknown. Otherwise quiet.

Nikki and Greg went into Yellowjacket Gulch of Porter Fork and their excellent report is HERE>

Observations and Avalanches

Type

Location

Likelihood

Size

Description

On west to north to easterly facing aspects, we have a generally 2-5 foot thick slab overlying weak faceted snow. This faceted snow formed early season and was essentially waiting for the Christmas/holiday storm to build a cohesive slab. The canary avalanche for the storm cycle was on Christmas Eve and since then, there have been over 80 reported avalanches failing on this persistent weak layer (PWL) of weak, faceted grains. I'm sure the real number is in the hundreds. These large and dangerous avalanches have released nearly day since then and it'll be a bit of a waiting game as the snowpack slowly adjusts over time. It might be awhile.

Here's a recent one from the Ant Knolls, triggered two days ago from below.

Type

Location

Likelihood

Size

Description

This is probably an over-forecast, but I just want you to have blowing and drifting snow on your radar today. There is quite a bit of uncertainty with the forecast of moderate to strong EASTERLY winds but keep an eye not just on increasing winds aloft, but blowing and drifting snow with the gap winds in the canyons; ie - Parley's Canyon, Weber Canyon etc. It could be a bust, but keep an eye on how things play out today.

Additional Information

The accident reports for the Porter Fork and Davenport Hill Accident have been completed. You can read them HERE.

At the Utah Avalanche Center, we strive to learn from every avalanche incident and share insights to help others avoid similar accidents. We have all experienced close calls and understand how easily mistakes can happen. Our goal with these reports is to provide valuable learning opportunities.

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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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