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Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Drew Hardesty
Issued by Drew Hardesty on
Sunday morning, April 12, 2020
The avalanche danger is generally LOW. Remember that risk is inherent in mountain travel. Minor sluffing is likely on the steepest slopes and isolated pockets of hard wind drifts may be found in odd locations. Continue to avoid the large cornices along the ridgelines. Dangerous slide-for-life conditions will exist on many steep frozen slopes.
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
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Chapter 7 of the Low Danger Series - The Crossing
Weather and Snow
Skies are partly to mostly cloudy in the wake of last night's cold front.
Mountain temps are again in the icebox: 11,000' temps are 9-11°F while trailheads are in the upper 20s.
The west to northwest winds pummelled the range with a few gusts to near 100mph but are trending down as we speak. Current hourly averages are 20-25mph with gusts to 40.
For all our trouble, we managed to squeeze a whole 2-3" out of the storm.
Riding conditions will be grim - dust on crust at best and I suspect few crusts will soften for any decent corn skiing.
Still, coverage remains excellent with 100-130" up high in the Cottonwoods and 70" along the PC ridgeline.

For today, we'll have partly cloudy skies with some possibility of a thunderstorm at some point. Winds will be northwesterly at 15-20mph. Temps will in the very low teens up high, the mid 20s down low. We'll stay generally cool and breezy through the week with perhaps something of storm mid-week. Warming trend by the weekend.
Recent Avalanches
None, though I wouldn't be surprised to hear that more glide avalanches released yesterday or overnight in the usual haunts of Stairs, Broads, Mill B South, and Porter Fork.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Normal Caution
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Wind slabs: What very little snow that fell was probably blown well off the ridgelines or sublimated away, but keep an eye out for small pockets of hard wind slab that might knock you off your game. They'll be quite smooth and chalky and possibly break above you.
Wet avalanches: The colder air is much needed relief for the wet avalanche issues, though the winds probably slowed down some of the cooling, particularly at the mid and low elevations. I suspect that all snow surfaces are now - and will probably remain - well frozen today, but some mid and low elevation areas will probably still hold some layers of loose wet unconsolidated grains a few inches below the frozen crusts. Let's hope that the week's cool temps penetrate down and lock up all of these layers.
Glide avalanches: Glides in general are poorly understood, but have been known to still release a day or two into a cold snap after a heat wave. It's still recommended to avoid the classic glide habitat (see above) or areas with yawning glide cracks.
Cornices: Always a threat, particularly in springtime. Continue to avoid them like the, well; continue to avoid being above or below them.
Slide-for-life: my good friend the patrol director at Snowbasin GR Fletcher always said "slide-for-life" sounded like a fund-raising campaign, but it's nothing of the sort. Instead, it refers to slick melt-freeze crusts where a slip could lead to a long slide down the slope. Axe, (ski)-crampons, whippet ski pole might be useful today.
Additional Information
Information on outdoor recreation - The State of Utah created this webpage with information about recreating on both state and federal public lands during the current health crisis.

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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.