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Forecast for the Ogden Area Mountains

Issued by Bruce Tremper for
Thursday, February 28, 2013

There is a Moderate Danger today for several avalanche problems 1) lingering and fresh wind slabs along the upper elevation ridges, 2) damp or wet avalanches on steep, sun exposed slopes as they heat up, and 3) persistent slab problems on SOUTH facing slopes, which is opposite from where we unusually find this problem. Otherwise, the danger is Low.

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Special Announcements

I published a blog on What is the Risk of Riding in Avalanche Terrain?

Weather and Snow

Yesterday was one of those days...sunny, cold, nice powder with some mountain banner clouds for effect . Kinda purdy. Fresh powder on the surface varied dramatically by region with about 10 inches in Little Cottonwood Canyon and just a few inches in most other areas. Temperatures remained cold so the slopes facing the north half of the compass remained dry while a thin sun crust formed on most slopes facing the south half of the compass.

This morning, temperatures are 10 degrees warmer than yesterday morning and are around 10 degrees and the winds have picked up from the west and northwest, blowing 10-20 on most ridges with 25 gusting to 40 on the most exposed peaks. Skies are clear this morning but high clouds will build throughout the day.

You can check out Bill Hunt's observation from the Snowbasin backcountry

Recent Avalanches

Despite lots of folks getting out yesterday and most of the popular slopes getting tracked up, there was not much activity reported. One slope cut high on Cardiac Ridge produced a small wind slab 1' x 30' and there was some spotty results from explosives control work at resorts above 10,500' in un-compacted areas. Finally, there was a few damp to wet sluffs in steep terrain and cliffs as they heated up in the sun.

Here's a cool composite photo of the Toledo Bowl in Little Cottonwood Canyon near Salt Lake City from a couple days ago Tweeted by Tobias Macfee. (Remember, you can tweet using #utavy and we will see it.)

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

You will find some localized, lingering wind slabs from a couple days ago as well as some fresh wind slabs from today's increased wind. Since both the previous wind and today's wind was from the northwest and west, you will find the wind deposits mostly on the east through south facing slopes and mostly along the upper elevation ridges. Wind slabs look smooth and rounded. As always, you should avoid steep slopes with recent deposits of wind deposited snow.

Avalanche Problem #2
Wet Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Cold temperatures yesterday kept much of the wet activity from the sun to a minimum with the exception of some steep rocky areas that heated up in the sun. Today with warming temperatures we should see a bit more activity. As always, get off of, and out from underneath, steep slopes when they get soggy from heating by the sun.

Or should I say muggy? My 95-year-old mother-in-law from the Czech Republic lives with us and she only has a limited vocabulary of snow conditions--powder and muggy. Muggy is her favorite. Most every day when I return home from the mountains, she asks me if the snow was muggy. Today, she may finally be rewarded.

Here's a photo by Mark White of a wet sluff off the rocks in West Porter Fork in Mill Creek Canyon near Salt Lake City

Avalanche Problem #3
Loose Dry Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Yes, we have some lingering persistent slab problems but, no, it's not what you think. This time they are on the SOUTH facing slopes, which is opposite of what we usually see. There have been several reports, including my observation and video from yesterday, of a sun crust - facet sandwich on southerly facing slopes buried about a foot deep. They keep propagating in snowpit tests and we saw a couple human triggered avalanches on this layer a couple days ago. We did not hear about any yesterday so hopefully they are settling out. I don't know how the warmer temperatures are going to affect them but you should be suspicious of south facing slopes.

Additional Information

As a high pressure ridge builds, temperatures will warm to near freezing from zero - 10 degree temperatures yesterday. Unlike yesterday, winds will blow 20 mph from the west to northwest and blow 30 gusting to 40 along the most exposed peaks. High clouds should increase through the day and slowly lower to mountain top level overnight with possible riming overnight. Temperature should continue to warm into the mid 30's on Friday.

Saturday should be the warmest day with highs near 40 and then we get a weak cold front on Sunday that will give us perhaps 3 inches of snow. Then another storm for about a week from today.

General Announcements

Go to http://www.backcountry.com/utah-avalanche-center to get tickets from our partners at 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.

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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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