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Forecast for the Ogden Area Mountains

Issued by Bruce Tremper for
Monday, March 18, 2013

Low Danger today with some cautions:
1) Be suspicious of steep slopes with recent wind deposits. Most will be shallow and small but you may be able to find one large enough to catch you.
2) Watch your footing on the steep, icy slopes. Crampons, an ice axe or whippet might be handy.
3) Sun warming in the afternoon may cause a few shallow sluffs within the new snow.

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Weather and Snow

Temperatures have plummeted down to 15 degrees from the very warm temperatures these past few days. Light snow is falling this morning but it should clear out by mid morning. Yesterday the winds howled from the west and northwest 40, gusting to 60 with an inch of new snow in most places but upper Big Cottonwood Canyon reported 4 inches from the storm but it's hard to tell because they winds blew so hard. A Park City resort reported, "Most of our snow ended up in Heber." Actually, I think it ended up in the Uinta Mountains where they report 6 inches of snow on the north slope. Logan and the Monte Cristo area ended up with similar amounts.

If wind-drifted, dust-on-rock-hard-crust sounds good to you, then today is your day. The old, wet snow now has a thickly-frozen crust along with frozen tracks, rollerballs and wet avalanche debris that sometimes resemble concrete lane barriers. Dense new snow blown into patches of 3-inch drifts add some variety and softness. Sun later today may help soften up the hard crust. Bruce's best bet: groomers.

The temperature trend from Alta mid mountain. It's a 2-day chart with the present time on the right.

Recent Avalanches

No avalanche activity was reported yesterday except for one small wet slab from a very low elevation, north facing slope in Big Cottonwood Canyon, probably from early in the day before the cold temperatures locked things up.

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Wind Drifted Snow
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Today is "Normal Caution", meaning that it's mostly Low Danger with a few mentions for possible problems:

1) Most wind slabs will be very shallow and soft but you may find one large enough for concern. As usual, be suspicious of steep slopes with recent wind deposits, which are very easy to recognize and avoid. For places with more than 3 inches of new snow you can bump the danger rating up a notch.
2) Watch your footing on the steep, hard ice. Crampons, an ice axe or whippiet could be handy.
3) Sun warming this afternoon may cause a few shallow sluffs within the new snow.

Additional Information

Light snow should end by mid morning with clearing skies. The wind will continue from the west 20, gusting to 40 on most ridge tops with stronger winds on the high peaks. Temperatures should rise from the mid teens this morning to as much as freezing on the sunny slopes. Overnight, temps in the 20's and in the mid 30's on Tuesday with less wind.

We have another weak storm for Wednesday and Thursday, which looks to give us about 6 inches of snow on Wednesday with another strong, dry cold front on Thursday.

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.

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UDOT canyon closures UDOT at (801) 975-4838Wasatch Powderbird Guides does daily updates about where they'll be operating on this bloghttp://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, email by clicking HERE, or include #utavy in your tweet.

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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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