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Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Brett Kobernik
Issued by Brett Kobernik for
Friday, February 8, 2013

A MODERATE avalanche danger remains on the mid and upper elevation northerly and east facing slopes. Human triggered avalanches are possible. Southerly winds may have created some fresh sensitive drifts along the ridges and could enhance the chance of triggering an avalanche that breaks into old weak snow.

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TONIGHT:
Check out the Free 'Know Before You Go' presentation at Kirkhams Outdoor Products. The presentation will begin at 7:00pm and attendees will receive a 20% coupon for all avalanche related equipment good for 1 week from the date of the clinic.

Weather and Snow

Temperatures are a bit warmer than 24 hours ago but still dipped into the teens in the higher terrain. As anticipated, the southerly winds picked up and are blowing in the moderate category with stronger gusts. The snow surface is a mixed bag of soft settled snow, wind crusts and sun crusts depending on aspect, elevation and slope angle.

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Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
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The recent winds may have changed the avalanche conditions over the last 12 hours by creating fresh drifts. I suspect any of these will be somewhat stubborn which can be misleading when they aren't reacting to prodding. Continue to use slope cuts prior to diving into any steep terrain. Don't trust any fresh drift especially in committing terrain such as above rocks or cliffs as well as having trees below.

  • Persistent Slabs: If you're getting into radical terrain with slope angles pushing 40 degrees on the more northerly and east aspects there's still a chance you could produce an avalanche that breaks into older weak snow. The recent winds could enhance this concern by adding additional weight in the form of a fresh drift.
Additional Information

Southerly winds will continue in the moderate speed category with some stronger gusts for most of the day. Ridgetop temperatures will get into the 20s. A storm is at our doorstep and should start to produce snowfall this afternoon with a good shot coming in a southwest flow tonight into Saturday. As the system gradually moves through, the flow will change to a northwest flow where we should see more accumulations Saturday night into Sunday. The storm lingers into Monday. It looks fairly cold and winds don't look like they'll ever get out of hand. The new snow should fall right side up, that is, densities decreasing as the storm progresses. I'm anticipating about a foot of snow and an inch of water. There is the distinct possibility some areas will do much better. This has the potential to be a real good storm for backcountry enthusiasts.

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.

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Daily observations are frequently posted by 10 pm each evening.

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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

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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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