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Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Brett Kobernik
Issued by Brett Kobernik on
Saturday morning, March 21, 2015

The avalanche danger will increase to MODERATE with daytime heating. Avoid travel on and below steep slopes once the snow becomes damp, wet or punchy. The wet avalanche danger will gradually decrease with cooler temperatures into mid week.

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Special Announcements

The next advisory will most likely be updated Tuesday, March 24 unless conditions warrent.

Weather and Snow

Temperatures are about 5 degrees warmer than Friday at this time with upper elevation readings in the mid 30s to mid 40s. The wind direction has backed around to the southwest with fairly light speeds. With a clear overnight sky, I'd anticipate at least a shallow re-freeze of the surface snow despite the warm temperature readings.

For details on what people are finding for conditions in the backcountry, make sure to check our OBSERVATIONS WEB PAGE.

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Avalanche Problem #1
Wet Snow
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Wet avalanche activity will be your main concern Saturday. It looks like Saturday is the warmest day so this avalanche issue should be less pronounced as we slide into a slight cooling trend.

Use the usual springtime tricks - early starts and early finishes and switching to the cooler aspects once the snow heats up. First east facing slopes will heat, then south, then west and northerly. When the snow becomes punchy, soggy, wet or loose where you are, get off steep slopes and head elsewhere.

Avoid terrain traps, including creeks and gullies, where even a small sluff can pile snow up deeply. Glide avalanches can occur any time of day, most common where there are smooth rock slabs beneath the snow; and cornices are sensitive and break back further than expected.

Additional Information

We'll see a few clouds today with ridgetop temperatures into the 40s. Southwest wind should remain fairly light. The big picture for the upcoming week is similar or slightly cooler temperatures for Sunday with more clouds and cooler through mid week as a few disturbances pass through. A minor storm Monday night and another one Tuesday night might produce a few inches of snow each. Temperatures remain fairly cool through the week then look like they get really warm next weekend.

General Announcements


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, email by clicking HERE, or include #utavy in your tweet or Instagram.

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)

Snowbasin Resort Dispatch (801-620-1017), Powder Mountain Dispatch (801-745-3772 x 123).

Sundance Dispatch (801-223-4150)

EMAIL ADVISORY If you would like to get the daily advisory by email you will need to subscribe here.​

DAWN PATROL Hotline updated daily by 5-530am - 888-999-4019 option 8.

Twitter Updates for your mobile phone - DETAILS

UDOT canyon closures: LINK TO UDOT, or on Twitter, follow @UDOTavy, @CanyonAlerts or @AltaCentral

Utah Avalanche Center mobile app - Get your advisory on your iPhone along with great navigation and rescue tools.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides Blog/Itinerary for the Day.

Lost or Found something in the backcountry? - http://nolofo.com/

Ski Utah mobile snow updates

Discount lift tickets are now available at Backcountry.com. Thanks to Ski Utah and the Utah Resorts. All proceeds go towards paying for Utah Avalanche Center avalanche and mountain weather advisories.

To those skinning uphill at resorts: it is your responsibility to know the resort policy on uphill travel. You can see the uphill travel policy for each resort here. IMPORTANT: Before skinning or hiking at a resort under new snow conditions, check in with Ski Patrol. Resorts can restrict or cut off access if incompatible with control and grooming operations.

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you shop from Backcountry.com or REI: Click this link for Backcountry.com or this link to REI, shop, and they will donate a percent of your purchase price to the UAC. Both offer free shipping (with some conditions) so this costs you nothing!

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you buy or sell on ebay - set the Utah Avalanche Center as a favorite non-profit in your ebay account here and click on ebay gives when you buy or sell. You can choose to have your seller fees donated to the UAC, which doesn't cost you a penny.

This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done. This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always exist.

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