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Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Nikki Champion
Issued by Nikki Champion on
Wednesday morning, February 9, 2022
The snowpack is generally stable and the avalanche danger is LOW. Two concerns are (1) isolated pockets of wind-drifted snow in exposed terrain at the upper elevations, and (2) sluffing in the snow at the surface in steep northerly terrain.
Evaluate each slope and look for any signs of instability such as cracking in fresh wind drifts or loose faceted surface snow easily moving.
Risk is inherent in mountain travel; getting caught in even a small avalanche could have serious consequences in steep, rocky terrain.
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Special Announcements
Join the Utah Avalanche Center on Saturday, February 12th at the Brighton Beacon Bash hosted by Weston Backcountry, Utah Mountain Adventures, Black Diamond, and Ortovox. There will be FREE ski and splitboard demos, avalanche rescue gear demos and a LIVE mock avalanche rescue.
Weather and Snow
This morning, under partly cloudy skies temperatures range through the upper teens and low 20s F, and winds are from the northwest and increased again overnight. At mid-elevations, winds are 10-20 mph with gusts in the 20's and 30's mph. Along exposed upper-elevation ridges, winds average in the '30s with gusts near 60 mph.
For today, temperatures will rise into the mid 30's F with northwesterly winds averaging 10-20 mph with gusts in the '30s at mid-elevations and in the 30's with gusts in the 50's mph at upper elevations. Winds will be strongest mid-morning and decrease during the afternoon. A brief break in the strong sunshine, with a day of partly cloudy skies.
Recent Avalanches
No new avalanche activity was reported. You can find all the backcountry observations HERE.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Normal Caution
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
The snowpack is generally stable and natural and human-triggered avalanches are unlikely. In isolated areas, you may encounter
  • Pockets of fresh wind drifted snow along exposed ridges and in open terrain at the upper elevations. With the bump in winds overnight, and into this morning any loose snow that is available for transport will be transported. Although any drifts will be shallow and not very wide, wind drifts will be sensitive if they have formed on top of weaker snow underneath.
  • Fast and long-running sluffs in the weak, cohesion-less surface snow on steep slopes on shady aspects. In confined and sustained terrain features, sluffs can pile up deeply, especially in terrain traps. On slopes where the weak snow at the surface rests on top of hard crusts, getting caught and carried in a loose sluff could have serious consequences in steep, rocky terrain as you may be unable to self-arrest on any slick surfaces underneath.
Yesterday, in the Uinta mountains Mark was able to find a large variety of different snow surfaces that had been impacted by the wind. The huge swings in temperature between day and night have faceted and weakened much of the surface snow. It’s not a problem until we get snow, but will become a problem when we do. Similar conditions currently exist throughout most mountain ranges in Utah.
Evaluate each slope and look for any signs of instability such as cracking in fresh wind drifts or long-running sluffs in steep terrain.
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.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE GENERAL INFO AND FAQ
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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