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Forecast for the Ogden Area Mountains

Issued by Bruce Tremper for
Friday, February 1, 2013

Stay off of, and out from underneath, slopes steeper than about 33 degrees today on all aspects and elevations. It's best to wait for the snow to stabilize for at least another day. Some avalanches will be difficult to trigger but they will be large and dangerous.

You can find safe riding conditions on most slopes less steep than 30 degrees that are not locally connected to steeper terrain.

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Special Announcements

UDOT will conduct avalanche additional control work in the Mt. Superior area of Little Cottonwood Canyon this morning. The road should be open again by 8:30 am. You can always see their closure notifications on our home page.

Weather and Snow

For such "upside down" snow, the riding conditions were not so bad yesterday with about 8 inches of creamy, very dense, graupel snow on the surface. It fell on light powder snow, so it feels a bit punchy for old-schoolers like me who prefer light, narrower skis. Snowmobiling conditions remain supportable. The stratus, mountain-top clouds and high wind from yesterday will thankfully transition into mostly sunny with light winds today with continued pleasant temperatures.

Recent Avalanches

With so many of the W's over the last couple days--wind, weight, warming--I expected to see more natural activity in the backcountry. I noticed one large natural slide from Wednesday night in South Monitor, 2' x 400' on a wind loaded east facing slope (see my observation) (see Mark White's observation). Our forecaster, Drew Hardesty was able to intentionally trigger a slab in Beartrap Fork yesterday, (see his observation)

Avalanche control work at ski areas and on highways was able to trigger a number of avalanches, both fresh wind slabs and a few large, deep avalanches, fracturing on the old faceted snow layer from early January. These slabs seemed stiff and stubborn.

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Avalanche Problem #1
New Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Today we have a dangerous combination: 1) Sunny weather will entice "volunteer stability testers" to find any lingering avalanche problems. 2) The avalanches will be stubborn to trigger but if you do, they will be large and dangerous. 3) the weak layer is "persistent" meaning it will continue to produce avalanches for several days after it is loaded with weight. Most avalanche fatalities occur in conditions like these. My advice: cool it for a day or two. Keep your slope angles under about 33 degrees.

I wish I could tell you exactly where you will find these giant rat traps waiting for an unsuspecting trigger. But we've seen big slides from control work on many aspects and elevations. It seems to take a pretty good thump to get things going, so tracks on a slope won't necessarily mean much. See my video overview of the problem.

Avalanche Problem #2
Wet Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Snow does not like rapid change. Today with warming temperatures and sun, we will have rapid warming of a cold-dry snowpack. Watch for wet sluffs and occasional wet slabs at lower elevations and south facing slopes. Stay off of, and out from underneath, steep slopes when they get soggy.

Avalanche Problem #3
Deep Slab
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

The very strong wind from the northwest and west over the past couple days created widespread wind slabs in the upper elevation, wind exposed terrain. In theory, they should settle out quickly but you may find some lingering wind slabs and sensitive cornices today. As always, avoid steep slopes with recent wind drifts and never walk up to the edge of a drop off because there might be nothing but air underneath it.

Additional Information

Today the stratus, mountain top clouds will dissipate and skies should become mostly sunny. Temperatures will warm to near freezing and be much warmer on the sunny slopes. Ridge top winds will be light.

The extended forecast calls for continued sunny, warm weather in the mountains with smog starting to build up in the valleys. Our next storm looks like a week from today.

Note: for weather geeks, you should always monitor the Wasatch Weather Weenies blog for U of U Meteorology professor, Jim Steenburg's latest musings.

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 by submitting 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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