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Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Trent Meisenheimer
Issued by Trent Meisenheimer on
Tuesday morning, December 5, 2023
The avalanche danger is HIGH on slopes that face northwest, north, northeast, east, and southeast. Today's travel advice is straightforward: TRAVELING IN AVALANCHE TERRAIN IS NOT RECOMMENDED.
TODAY HAS AVALANCHE ACCIDENT WRITTEN ALL OVER IT. PLEASE AVOID AVALANCHE TERRAIN!
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Learn how to read the forecast here
Special Announcements
Please be aware of uphill travel policies at the ski areas and respect their closures to keep you and their workers safe.
The 5th Annual Avalanche Awareness Week is December 3-10. The week's goal is to save lives through activities that promote avalanche awareness, education, and safety. We have a variety of events around the state. Find an event near you.
Weather and Snow
Under clear skies, the mountain sunrise should be spectacular, as the peaks are pasted white from four days of heavy snowfall. Mountain temperatures range from 20-28°F. Winds from the northwest blow 5-10 mph with the occasional gust to 20 mph.
We will see plenty of sunshine today as high pressure sets in. Temperatures will climb into the mid-30s °F at 8,500'. Winds will be from the west at speeds of 5-15 mph. Later in the day, southerly winds might pick up and blow 10-20 mph as a small storm approaches for Wednesday. Storm totals for the past four days are as follows:
  • Upper Cottonwoods: 40-50" snow (3.52-5.03" water)
  • Park City Ridgeline: 20-30" snow (1.80-2.58" water)
  • Ogden Mountains: 30-50" snow (2.85-5.68" water)
  • Provo Mountains: 20-30" snow (1.58-2.25" water)
Recent Avalanches
Avalanche activity has been nothing short of terrifying and electric. Over the past few days, we've gone through a large natural avalanche cycle throughout the mountains of northern Utah. Control work continues to produce many large and destructive avalanches breaking 2-5 feet deep and up to 1,000 feet wide taking out trees and running into the flats. In the backcountry, reports of large remotely triggered slides, as well as all the natural avalanche activity, keeps pouring into our observation cue. Be sure to check it out.
Photo: Example of the avalanches we are dealing with.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
On northerly facing terrain at the mid and upper elevations, and on upper elevation southeast (see locator rose), you will find weak faceted snow at the base of our snowpack from early season October / November storms.
Over the past four days we've seen strong winds and heavy snowfall that has overloaded this weak foundation. Deep and deadly slab avalanches 2-5 feet deep and hundreds of feet wide are very likely today.
  • DO NOT RIDE AVALANCHE TERRAIN TODAY (ANY SLOPE STEEPER THAN 30°).
  • AVOID BEING IN RUNOUT ZONES (AVALANCHES CAN RUN LONG DISTANCES).
  • AVALANCHES CAN BE TRIGGERED FROM A DISTANCE, ADJACENT TERRAIN, OR FROM THE FLATS.
  • DO NOT LET TRACKS LURE YOU INTO AVALANCHE TERRAIN. TRACKS MEAN NOTHING.
  • THESE ARE THE AVALANCHES THAT CATCH, CARRY, AND KILL MOST BACKCOUNTRY RECREATIONALISTS.
Avalanche Problem #2
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Northwest winds have blown relentlessly at 15-30 mph, gusting into the 30s and 40s across the upper-elevation terrain over the past four days. These winds and heavy snowfall are the perfect recipe for Wind-Drifted Snow avalanches. These avalanches could be 2-5 feet deep and hundreds of feet wide. Watch for and avoid any steep slopes that are heavily drifted.
On the shady aspects, any wind slab you trigger has the potential to step down deeper into weak faceted snow, making it a deeper, wider, and, therefore, a much more dangerous avalanche.
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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