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Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Mark Staples
Issued by Mark Staples on
Saturday morning, March 19, 2016

Today you can find generally safe avalanche conditions on many slopes. However there is a MODERATE avalanche danger on upper elevation slopes with wind slabs. Also, as the day progresses the danger will rise to MODERATE due to loose wet avalanches.

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Weather and Snow

Yesterday remained surprisingly cool. Slopes shaded from the sun and wind still have dry, soft snow. High temperatures yesterday reached the mid 30's F though it felt a lot warmer in the sun. This morning tempertures at most elevations are in the low to mid 20's F. Winds are blowing 10 mph from the NW with some gusts of 20 mph. Bruce was skiing in White Pine in Little Cottonwood Canyon yesterday and provides a good summary of conditions in his observation.

Recent Avalanches

Yesterday there was some notable avalanche activity. One was a skier-triggered wind slab in the mountains above Bountiful. It was 14 inches deep and 80 feet wide. Additionally a sizable avalanche caught 4 snowmobilers near Logan yesterday. Three were partially buried and one was fully buried but quickly rescued by his partners. Read more here.

There is a lot of stable snow to be found and conditions are generally safe. However recent activity tells us that there are some things to watch for. A storm early this week delivered a foot of snow or more. Unfortunately strong winds blew from the west and north and there were avalanches reported on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Most of these slides occurred on wind loaded slopes. For more details on all these slides go HERE.

The photo below is of a wind slab that released on Thursday in Depth Hoar Bowl on the north side of Gobblers Knob. (photo: T. Leeds)

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Avalanche Problem #1
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Wind slabs can be tricky. They become a little more stable each day but some stablize faster than others. Some wind slabs are resting on a few different layers including graupel and possibly some small facets which may be the reason people are still able to trigger them. A group of skiers yesterday in Mill Creek Canyon entered a steep chute but found a few of these layers which broke cleanly and easily and they did not ski it. Slopes with wind loading and some of these funky layers underneath are places to possibly trigger an avalanche.

Avalanche Problem #2
Wet Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Today should be noticeably warmer than yesterday. Cool winds yesterday prevented the snow from warming up much but that should change today. Watch for loose wet snow avalanches mostly on east, south and west aspects and under exposed rocks. Even north facing slopes may see wet snow at lower elevations as temperatures rise today.

Wet avalanches are all about timing. Conditions can change rapidly from hard frozen snow, to soft snow with decent riding, to wet and unstable snow very quickly. Increasing numbers of small roller balls of snow as in the photo below indicate that the snow is getting wet and losing strength.

Photo: B. Tremper

Additional Information

Today will be warmer and calmer than yesterday with temperatures at 10,000 feet reaching the low 30's F and temperatures at 7-8,000 feet reaching 50 degrees F. Winds will calm a bit and blow about 5 mph. Similar conditions are expected Sunday, but winds should increase late Sunday as a storm with colder weather approaches.

General Announcements

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please help us out 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.

To get help in an emergency (to request a rescue) in the Wasatch, call 911. Be prepared to give your GPS coordinates or the run name. Dispatchers have a copy of the Wasatch Backcountry Ski map.

Backcountry Emergencies. It outlines your step-by-step method in the event of a winter backcountry incident.

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry, but no one is hurt and you do not need assistance, please notify the nearest ski area dispatch to avoid a needless response by rescue teams. Thanks.

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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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