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Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Brett Kobernik
Issued by Brett Kobernik for
Monday, April 1, 2013

The avalanche danger starts out mostly LOW this morning and will perhaps increase to MODERATE for wet avalanches. If enough new snow stacks up, it may be possible to get loose snow avalanches and the slight chance for a small fresh slab in areas that may become drifted in.

Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
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iPhone & iPad users: With help from Backcountry.com & Garafa, LLC, we now have a free mobile app that combines the best of the UAC advisories, observations, and weather summaries with National Weather Service products & UDOT road updates. This puts the tools you need for planning your day and your run in one handy mobile package. Check it out, tell your friends, and let us know what you think. http://utahavalanchecenter.org/apps

Weather and Snow

Temperatures were mild overnight again with stations above freezing in the mid elevations and just below freezing on the ridgetops. The temperatures are on a slight cooling trend now as a storm of sorts starts to move in.

It's also a sign of spring when there are tons of surveys and blog entries from us at the UAC -

We plan to have another survey up soon regarding avalanche info signage along the roads. Just a couple quick questions...and your feedback is needed.

Recent Avalanches

No significant activity reported yesterday except for some larger rollerballs and a few wet sluffs on steep slopes as they heated up. More glide cracks are appearing as well...and cornices continue to drip and sag.

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Avalanche Problem #1
Wet Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Although temperatures won't get quite as warm today, the string of nights with quite mild temperatures makes the potential for wet activity your number one concern again today.

In any event, here's a couple things to stack the odds in your favor. Yellow flags -

  • If you're sinking in past your boot tops or augering in with your sled
  • Can you easily punch your ski pole or probe to the ground - or worse yet, stepping off your ski/board/sled and punch through to the ground into wet snow
  • Are you able to easily get wet snow to sluff with little effort on moderate to steep slopes?

Bottom line is to get off of and out from underneath steeper sunny slopes by the time they've become wet, unconsolidated and unstable. Avoid being in or above steep walled gullies or other terrain traps that funnel snow into deeper piles of wet cement.

Avalanche Problem #2
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

You always need to be alert to how the new snow bonds to the old surface when a storm rolls through. This isn't going to big a snow producer but in the event enough snow stacks up, pay attention to how well it's bonding.

Glide avalanches and cornice failure become increasingly likely in the spring. Notorious glide avalanche terrain includes Stairs Gulch, Broads Fork and Mill B South of Big Cottonwood Canyon and have resulted in a double fatality in - I believe - spring of '99 in Stairs Gulch and a significant accident and broken leg earlier this year (in Broads Fork). Check out Glide Avalanches in our Encyclopedia and watch the avalanche rip-out.

Additional Information

A low pressure system is rolling through today and into Tuesday. This isn't going to bring a whole lot of snow, but probably just periods of snow showers that may add up a few inches, perhaps 6 if we're lucky. Temperatures will get up to around 40 at 8000 feet today. Winds will be from the south in the light to moderate speed category.

General Announcements

Go to http://www.backcountry.com/utah-avalanche-center to get EVEN MORE DISCOUNTED tickets from our partners at Beaver Mountain and Sundance. 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, email by clicking HERE, or include #utavy in your tweet.

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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