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Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Issued by Bruce Tremper for
Saturday, April 20, 2013

1) Continue to avoid steep slopes with recent wind drifts, which will look smooth and rounded and often crack under your weight. Also test the new snow to see how well it's bonded by jumping on small test slopes.
2) Stay off of--and out from underneath--any slope approaching 35 degrees or steeper that is getting wet.

There is a Moderate danger for these avalanche problems today.

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Special Announcements

We have ended our regular morning advisories for the season but I will issue intermittent advisories as conditions warrant until about the end of April for the Salt Lake region only. I will still post observations from you each evening and early morning as well, so if you're getting out, please let everyone in our community know what you find. Most of the rest of our staff is off for the season--or will be soon as soon as some projects are completed and most of the ski resorts are closed for the season, so your feedback and observations are important.

Weather and Snow

It's been a snowy April. We've had snow nearly every day for the past couple weeks.

Over the past couple days, we've had steadily rising temperatures, moderate to strong wind from the west and snow overnight. Logan and Ogden got the brunt of the storm with over 8 inches of snow and over 1.5 inches of water weight. The Salt Lake and Uinta Mountains got about half that amount. Alta had 5 inches overnight with a half of water equivalent.

As always, check the Snow Page for more details and more graphs like these.

Recent Avalanches

There was no activity reported from the backcountry yesterday but one of the ski resort was able to get a few class 2 wind slabs to release with explosives.

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

The wind during the storm was moderate to strong from the west, so expect some sensitive wind slabs in the upper elevation, wind exposed terrain that could be large enough to bury a person. As always, avoid any steep slopes with recent wind deposits, which will look smooth and rounded and often crack under your weight. Some of the new snow may cover up some of the wind slabs formed earlier in the storm so they may be a little harder to recognize the characteristic smooth surface texture.

Also, even out of the wind, the new snow may have a density inversion or a layer of graupel and could still behave as a soft slab. New snow could also sluff in loose snow avalanches. So as usual with new snow, constantly check how well it's bonded by digging down with your hand and also jump on small test slopes to see how it responds.

Remember that the Uinta Mountains still have weak, faceted snow in many areas, making them more dangerous than the Wasatch Range because avalanches could break much deeper into older, persistently weak snow. So the Uinta mountains are probably a notch higher on the danger scale. See Ted Scroggin's observation from yesterday.

Avalanche Problem #2
Wet Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

It's spring, after all, and the sun is very hot and strong. The new, dry snow could turn wet in a hurry when the sun hits it. I'm expecting partly sunny skies this afternoon along with convective, puffy clouds. So we should get periods of direct sun along with times of filtered sun through the clouds, which we call greenhouse warming as the heat is intercepted and re-reflected by the clouds, which can shine heat even onto shady slopes.

As usual, get off of--and out from underneath--any steep slope when it begins to get wet from the heat of the sun.

Note on the danger rose: almost no snow exists on southerly facing slopes below 8,000'.

Additional Information

We should have another inch or two of snow this morning with skies turning partly cloudy by afternoon with possible convective, puffy clouds. Temperatures should rise to just above freezing and ridge top winds will continue to blow 25, gusting to 40 from the west and northwest. Overnight, should be mostly clear. We should have a nice day on Sunday

The extended forecast calls for another weak disturbance, Sunday night through Tuesday, which probably won't produce much if any snow, and then return to warmer, seasonal temperatures for the rest of the week.

Cottonwood Canyons Forecast, which you can find on the Snow Page.

Always check your local NWS weather forecast, for example, here is the one for Alta. You can click on any spot in the state for a local forecast. You can also click on the satellite loops, radar loops or the hourly weather graph in the lower right of any forecast.

General Announcements

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)

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Subscribe to the daily avalanche advisory e-mail click HERE.

UDOT canyon closures UDOT at (801) 975-4838

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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