Ad
The National Forest Service Logo
icon-add Observation
Forecasts
Logan Ogden Salt Lake Provo Uintas Skyline Moab Abajos Weather Archives How to read the forecast
Observations & Avalanches
Submit Observation NEW - Observations Explorer All Observations Avalanches Fatalities Place Names Map Archives
Education
Avalanche Awareness Develop Skills On-Snow Courses Resources and Tutorials
Events
Store
About
Contact Who we are Core Values Staff Board of Directors Past Forecasters Sponsors Annual Reports Sign In
Blog
icon-add Observation
Donate / Join

Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Issued by Bruce Tremper for
Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Avoid: any slope steeper than about 33 degrees with recent deposit of wind drifted snow. You will find them mostly on northerly facing slopes and they will be most sensitive at mid elevations from about 7,000' to 10,000'. The danger will be Moderate today and may rise to Considerable by Wednesday. You can recognize them by their smooth, rounded shape.

Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
Learn how to read the forecast here
Weather and Snow

We have the blow before the snow today with strong wind from the south, 20-40, gusting to 50 along the highest ridges and peaks with wind about half that strength in most other areas including the mountain valleys. Temperatures have warmed into the mid 20's.

The snow has been "rode hard and put away wet" as they say in my native state of Montana, wind blasted, sun crusted, tracked up. The already dinky areas where soft, dry, ridable snow exists will shrink even further today. It's all in need of reincarnation, which is coming soon....

Recent Avalanches

No activity from the backcountry of note yesterday but we did notice a couple slides that probably occurred over the weekend. One was in the Session Mountains and one was on Kessler Peak.

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

The main problem today will be recent wind deposits (wind slabs) from the strong southerly winds at most elevations. To make an avalanche we need BOTH a slab and a weak layer. The wind will create the most slabs in places with what we call "snow available for transport" meaning soft, fluffy snow that can blow in the wind. These are exactly the same places where we have the most tender weak layers, namely near-surface faceted snow and bottomless faceted snow in the thin snowpack areas. Thus, the most dangerous areas will likely be on slopes that face the north half of the compass in mid elevations, say from 7,000' to 10,000'.

See my video from yesterday on snowpack conditions and a quick tutorial on how to recognize wind slabs.

As usual, avoid all slopes steeper than about 33 degrees with recent wind deposits.

Avalanche Problem #2
New Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Our old, familiar nemesis, persistent slabs, have been dormant lately for lack of a load. But with the forecasted series of storms starting today, we can expect these ugly monsters in the basement to blink back awake as we load them up with weight. There is no lack of persistent weak layers (faceted snow and depth hoar) especially on the wind and sun sheltered slopes (northerly and easterly facing at mid elevations). We may see some activity on these layers today with the added weight of wind slabs but expect the danger to increase through the next 10 days as a steady series of storms continues to add weight.

Additional Information

Did I mention wind? It should reach its peak by mid day with exposed sites blowing 30-40, gusting to 60 from the south. More sheltered areas should blow about half that speed but the wind should affect the snow even in the mountain valleys. Temperatures should be warm, in the upper 20's and lower 30's. Skies should be partly cloudy becoming mostly cloudy in the afternoon.

Snow should begin late tonight or tomorrow morning. The storm is one of those problematic closed lows that is diving south of us into Arizona so it's certainly not an ideas setup for northern Utah. It should his southern and central Utah the hardest. The southern Wasatch range should get about a foot of snow on Wednesday and Thursday with about an inch of water weight. Logan and Ogden may get skunked with most snow falling south of the Cottonwood Canyons.

Winter ain't over. The extended forecast calls for a series of storms over the next 10 days with a strong cold front for Sunday, which could produce lake effect snow.

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 (801-745-3772 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.

Next forecast >