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Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Evelyn Lees
Issued by Evelyn Lees for
Sunday, January 6, 2013

Avalanche danger is MODERATE on steep, wind drifted slopes. These new drifts are most widespread on northwest through northeasterly facing slopes along ridgelines and in wind affected upper elevation terrain.
Most other slopes have a LOW avalanche danger today. However, sluffing will occur as you travel on the steep, shady slopes at the mid and upper elevations and also on steep sunny slopes as the day heats up. Roof-a-lanches can occur as the snow slides off buildings.

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

Just a couple slots left for our Snowbird Freeride Avalanche Summit, an avalanche and alpine skills seminar focused on steep lines, remote locations, and filming, starting tonight. Jan 6-8 2013. Details and sign up here.

UAC Forecaster Drew Hardesty will be giving a free talk in Park City Tuesday night, discussing how to matching terrain to snowpack conditions. More info HERE.

There are still a few spots left for the Women's Backcountry 101. A Thursday evening talk, followed by a Saturday field day. For more information and to sign up, go HERE.

There is also a Free Fireside Avalanche Chat at Black Diamond with Brett on Thursday night.

Weather and Snow

It’s a slightly different morning, with a few clouds and moderate southerly breezes across the higher terrain. The clouds and wind combo increased temperatures overnight, and currently, most stations are in the mid 20s to low 30s. The southerly winds are averaging 20 to 30 mph across the most exposed peaks, with gusts into the low 40s.

Sun crusted slopes are more widespread after several warm days, but shady slopes still have soft, recrystallized powder.

Recent Avalanches

Once again, both dry and damp loose sluffs were reported yesterday from the backcountry, with a few explosive released small wind slabs at the upper elevations in the resorts.

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Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

The southerly winds will be moving snow along the higher ridgelines, creating shallow drifts, most widespread on northwest through northeasterly facing slopes. These new drifts are landing on weak, faceted snow, and may be surprisingly sensitive, even releasing remotely from a distance. The drifts could be touchier a short ways off the ridgelines, where the facets are larger and weaker.

Avalanche Problem #2
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Outside of the wind affected terrain, there is a generally low avalanche danger. On wind sheltered slopes steeper than 35 degrees, watch for:

  • Dry loose sluffs, easy to trigger on steep, shady slopes, and just large enough to catch and carry you.
  • Damp loose sluffs, if the winds decrease this afternoon and the sun peeks out, heating the snow on steep southerly and westerly facing slopes.
  • Heating is also causing the snow on roofs to slide, creating deep debris piles.
  • The buried mid pack weak layers seem dormant for the moment, but are still there and weakening. On steep, radical terrain, include the possibility of a slab avalanche in your defensive planning.
Additional Information

The first of a pair of splitting storm systems will give Utah partly cloudy skies today and breezy conditions along the high ridges. The 20 to 30 mph southerly winds will slowly decrease this afternoon Temperatures remain warm – in the low 30s at 8000’, upper 20s at 10,000’.

The second splitting storm system puts northern Utah under a northwest flow Monday night into Tuesday, with light snow and/or a rime event possible. A strong, but fast moving, cold front is still in the forecast for Thursday.

General Announcements

Go to http://www.backcountry.com/utah-avalanche-center to get tickets from our partners at Park City, Beaver Mountain, Canyons, Sundance, and Wolf Mountain. All proceeds benefit the Utah Avalanche Center.

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry - especially if you are adjacent to a ski area – please call the following teams to alert them to the slide and whether anyone is missing or not. Rescue teams can be exposed to significant hazard when responding to avalanches, and do not want to do so when unneeded. Thanks.

Salt Lake and Park City – Alta Central (801-742-2033), Canyons Resort Dispatch (435-615-3322)

Ogden – Snowbasin Patrol Dispatch (801-620-1017)

Powder Mountain Ski Patrol Dispatch (801-745-3773 ex 123)

Provo – Sundance Patrol Dispatch (801-223-4150)

Dawn Patrol Forecast Hotline, updated by 05:30: 888-999-4019 option 8.

Twitter Updates for your mobile phone - DETAILS

Daily observations are frequently posted by 10 pm each evening.

Subscribe to the daily avalanche advisory e-mail click HERE.

UDOT canyon closures UDOT at (801) 975-4838

Wasatch Powderbird Guides does daily updates about where they'll be operating on this blog http://powderbird.blogspot.com/ .

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory bysubmitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can also call us at 801-524-5304 or 800-662-4140, or email by clicking HERE

Donate to your favorite non-profit –The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center. The UAC depends on contributions from users like you to support our work.

For a print version of this advisory click HERE.

This advisory is produced by the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. It describes only general avalanche conditions and local variations always exist. Specific terrain and route finding decisions should always be based on skills learned in a field-based avalanche class.

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