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Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Nikki Champion
Issued by Nikki Champion on
Sunday morning, February 23, 2020
The avalanche danger is LOW. The two things to watch for today are (1) pockets of isolated wind slabs in the upper elevations and (2) small, wet, loose avalanches on southeast through west-facing aspects.

Remember a low avalanche danger, doesn’t mean “no avalanche danger”. Continue to evaluate snow and terrain carefully.
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Weather and Snow
Yesterday, temperatures were much warmer than previous days, hitting highs between 40-49 F in the mountains. The winds were light and southwesterly throughout the day, and the cloud cover moved in and out throughout the day letting in periods of sun.
This morning, mountain temperatures in the upper 20s F at trailheads, and low 20s F at ridgetops. Winds are northeasterly and generally light averaging 5-10 mph below 10,000'. At the highest elevation, ridgetops gusts are near 25 mph.
Today will be another sunny and warm one before a quick-hitting cold front moves through Northern Utah. Skies will be clear, and winds northeasterly in the morning and average 5-15 mph with gusts below 25 mph at mid-elevations. Upper elevation ridgelines will average 10-20 mph with gusts up to 40 mph. Throughout the day the winds will shift to northwesterly and increase into the evening as the temperatures drop. With the cold front, the central Wasatch could get 1-3 inches of snow.
Recent Avalanches
Yesterday's warm temperatures and high cloud cover lead to a few small wet-loose avalanches and roller balls in the backcountry.
Photo of roller balls on Reynolds yesterday (Photo. S. Zimmerman-Wall)

Our Week in Review - which summarizes weather and avalanche activity over the past week - has been published HERE.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Normal Caution
Type
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Likelihood
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Description
Today, the overall avalanche danger is LOW. This means that human-triggered avalanches are unlikely, but small avalanches in isolated areas are possible.
Today I would watch for:
  1. Small pockets of recent-wind drifted snow in isolated terrain features, such as ridgelines and cross-loaded gullies. Avoid steep terrain features with obvious signs of wind-drifted snow.
  2. Small wet, loose avalanches on southeast through west-facing terrain. While these may not be large, they are enough to knock you off your feet and sweep you through consequential terrain. Look for signs of increased wetting of the snow, such as pinwheeling and loose wet avalanches off of rock features. Consider avalanche runout zones.
With a LOW danger, it is reasonable to venture into more radical terrain, but always consider the consequences of an avalanche. Even a very small avalanche can be deadly in certain terrain.
Continue to maintain safe travel habits; this means exposing one person at a time to avalanche terrain and having someone watch them from a safe location.

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.