Forecast: Salt Lake Area Mountains - Utah Avalanche Center

Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Issued by Nikki Champion on
Sunday morning, March 21, 2021

The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE on all upper elevation steep slopes. Human-triggered avalanches are likely where soft slabs of new snow combined with fresh wind drifts are the main avalanche problems. Careful snowpack evaluation, cautious route-finding, and conservative decision-making will be essential in this terrain today.

Low and mid-elevation slopes generally had less wind, but human-triggered avalanches definitely remain possible within the new snow, and the avalanche danger is MODERATE.

Keep in mind that if it starts snowing harder than expected or the temperature quickly rises the avalanche danger can spike rapidly.

Low

Moderate

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High

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Weather and Snow

Snow: As of 5 a.m. an additional 5-7 inches of snow fell overnight and it is still coming down. Snowfall totals since yesterday:

Little Cottonwood Canyon: 16-20" snow (1.40 - 1.63" H20)

Big Cottonwood Canyon: 12-17" snow (1.10 - 1.50 H20)

Park City Ridgeline: 7-12" snow (0.90 - 1.20 H20)

This morning, it is overcast with moderate snowfall in the mountains. Temperatures are in the mid to upper teens F and winds are primarily from the west-northwest and light. At mid-elevations winds are averaging 5-15 mph with gusts below 20 mph. At the upper elevations, winds are averaging in the teens to twenties with gusts near 30 mph.

Today, the winter weather advisory ends this morning at 8 AM. There will be snow showers through the early morning before clearing, and then snowshowers redeveloping again during the afternoon. Temperatures will be in the mid 20s F. Winds will stay light and west-northwesterly, gusting up to 35 mph at the highest elevations. Accumulation today should be light, another trace amount to 2" total.

Recent Avalanches

Only minimal avalanche activity was reported yesterday, one report of a shallow wind drift and one report of a dry loose avalanche within the new snow. Both of these avalanches were 8" deep, failing on the firm snow surface from before the storm. Ski resorts began reporting sensitive soft slabs this morning.

Find all observations HERE.

Our Week in Review - where we highlight significant snow and avalanche activity from this past week has been published.

Type

Location

Likelihood

Size

Description

Roughly 12"-20" inches of new snow has fallen throughout the Wasatch range. All of this new snow fell on a variety of excellent bed surfaces, and today we will continue seeing new snow avalanches in the backcountry. Overnight the new snow seemed to become more cohesive, and today I expect to see more shallow soft slabs, but this doesn't mean that fast running sluffs are out of the picture, particularly in protected upper elevations. Look for both types of new snow instabilities today.

The good news - this new snow issue should be easy to get a handle on how stable or unstable the snow is today. Use test slopes to see how the new snow is behaving, take your shovel out, and perform a shovel tilt test or an extended column test to see if there is any propagation within the new snow. Look for the obvious clues, recent avalanche activity, and shooting cracks.

As the first-round of snow showers wraps up this morning another system moves in this afternoon. During either of these snow showers, the sensitivity of the new snow will increase during any periods of high rates of snowfall. Pay attention to changing weather and increased snowfall rates. If the snowfall rates rapily increase at any point, the avalanche danger will increase as well.

Type

Location

Likelihood

Size

Description

In the wind zone, the new snow problem will be amplified by additional loading by the wind. Due to the elevated winds over the last 48 hours, you'll likely find slabs of wind drifted snow at the upper elevations, and some mid elevation sub ridges as well. Winds have mostly been blowing from the northwest and west, but look for drifting on all aspects which can be loaded from the tops of ridges or across the sides of ridges.

Today's light winds shouldn't be transporting much more snow and will allow these drifts to begin stabilizing.

Look for obvious signs of wind-drifted snow, such as pillow-shaped slopes, cracking, and whumping, and avoid those slopes.

Additional Information

General Announcements

Please visit this website with information about Responsible Winter Recreation by the Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation.

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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