Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Issued by Bruce Tremper for
Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Old snow left over from our last storm has mostly melted and there is still about 6 inches of stable snow on the upper elevation, northerly-facing slopes. The expected storm this weekend should bond well to the bare ground but it may produce soft slabs on the pre-existing snow from the last storm.

Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
Learn how to read the forecast here
Special Announcements

Welcome to the new look of the avalanche advisory. This past summer we had a series of meetings and negotiated a unified look-and-feel of the avalanche advisories and web pages for other avalanche centers in this reagion including Jackson, Wyoming, Sun Valley and the Sierra Avalanche Center. Eventually all these sites should look very similar and the plan is for Colorado to join the look next winter. In another week or two we expect to have two viewing choices for the advisory page--this basic view and the "advanced" view most are familiar with from last season with colored danger ratings in the aspect-elevation diagram.

We are still in the process of transferring the pages and content from our old website to the new site, so be patient. We are also tweaking the look and design so you may notice some changes. When everything is finished, it should all be pretty cool.

Weather and Snow

Last week's storm has melted away on most slopes in the Salt Lake area mountains but you can still find about 6 inches of settled snow on the upper elevation, northwest through northeast facing slopes. The Ogden and Logan area mountains received much more snow out of the last storm.

Ad
Avalanche Problem #1
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

What little old snow left over from the last storm is starting to facet, so it may be a slippery layer for the expected snowstorm Friday and Saturday. There is about 6 inches of old snow on the northerly-facing slopes above about 9,500'. With this weekend's storm, we expect the new snow to bond well to the bare ground but there may be some soft slab avalanches sliding on the more slippery layer of old snow.

Additional Information

Enjoy Thursday while you can because a strong cold front is expected on Friday with dramatically colder temperatures and a foot or two of new snow in the mountains by Sunday. It should come in waves with the first wave on Friday and some periods of lake effect squalls through Sunday. You can get more details on the Cottonwood Canyon forecast.