Forecast: Salt Lake Area Mountains - Utah Avalanche Center

Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Issued by Greg Gagne on
Monday morning, February 28, 2022

The avalanche danger will rise to MODERATE on mid and upper elevation slopes facing east through south and west with natural and human-triggered wet, loose avalanches possible.

On isolated mid and upper elevation slopes facing west through north and east there is a MODERATE danger for triggering soft slabs 1' to 2' deep failing on a buried persistent weak layer.

Low

Moderate

Considerable

High

Extreme

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Special Announcements

Couple of good events this week:

1. Where are we going and how did we get here? Join Craig Gordon at Alpha Coffee for a State of the Snowpack presentation and gain insights into this question. Wednesday, March 2, 6:30 PM. 7260 Racquet Club Drive, Cottonwood Heights.

2. Springtime in the mountains is one of the best times of the year. Longer days and lots of sunshine bring on great corn riding, bigger objectives, and changing avalanche problems. Join us as we discuss how to spot bulls-eye clues indicating rising avalanche danger, how to plan your route around the sun and its impact on the snow surface, pertinent gear to add to the pack specific to springtime travel, and much more. Note; the event will be outside on the Lone Pine patio, please dress accordingly.

Please join us for a KBYG presentation hosted by KUHL on Thursday, March 3rd from 6:30 - 8:00 PM.

Weather and Snow

Currently: Skies are clear with temperatures ranging through the 20's F. Some low-elevation trailheads where colder air sinks are in the low teens. Winds are from the northwest and less than 10 mph at the mid elevations. Along the highest ridgelines, winds are averaging in the teens with gusts in the 20's mph.

For today, temperatures will rise into the mid and upper 30's F at low and mid-elevations and right around freezing at the upper elevations, although today's clear skies and strong sunshine will likely make it feel much warmer. Winds will remain light at low and mid elevations and average in the teens with gusts in the 20's mph along the highest exposed ridges and summits.

Temperatures will warm through midweek with a trough possible by the end of the week.

Recent Avalanches

The only backcountry avalanche activity reported from Sunday included minor wet-loose sluffing and a small soft slab along the Park City ridgeline (photo below) due to warm temperatures.

Type

Location

Likelihood

Size

Description

The cold, dry snow from last week was slowly introduced to warming over the weekend: it was first touched by sunshine on Saturday and slightly warmer temperatures and cloudy skies on Sunday. Therefore, today's strong sunshine and temperatures rising above freezing won't shock the snow surface, but there will be some avalanches involving wet, loose snow on aspects facing east through south and west. Wet rollerballs and loose sluffs are indications the snow surface is warming and that it's time to move to more northerly aspects.

Although wet avalanche activity is likely to be small, it could be consequential in confined terrain such as the accident in Tanners Gulch on Saturday. Although this avalanche likely involved dry, loose snow, it does highlight this type of consequential terrain.

Type

Location

Likelihood

Size

Description

The January/February drought resulted in weak, faceted snow along many snow surfaces and it was covered by the 10-16" of snow and wind-drifting from last week. Avalanches failing on this persistent weak layer are still possible on slopes facing west/north/east, but require need a denser, more-cohesive slab (i.e. wind-drifted) to avalanche. Cracking and collapsing are signs this structure exists, such as this party experienced on Sunday near Lake Blanche in Mill B South. Avalanches failing on this PWL (persistent weak layer) can be triggered remotely (from a distance).

Before committing to a steeper slope on these W/N/E aspects, evaluate the snowpack and avoid slopes that have the structure of a stronger, denser slab on top of the buried PWL as shown in this photo.

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.

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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

Backcountry Emergency Procedures