Under mostly cloudy skies, it is another warm morning, with temperatures in the upper 20s to low 40s in the Ogden area mountains. Many mid and lower elevation stations have had no refreeze for 48 hours. The west to southwesterly wind speeds have been variable for the past 24 hours – at their peak, they’ve averaged to 15 mph at the mid elevations, but reached 50 mph averages on Mt Ogden.
A combination of rime on Sunday and warm air temperatures on Sunday and Monday has made it difficult to find good powder. Look for it in sheltered northerly facing treed slopes. Yesterday in the Monte Cristo area, Mark was happily surprised not to find the rime crust and about 10 inches of dense, settled powder on sheltered slopes. Unfortunately, this area has a buried layer of surface hoar. Its not an issue now, but could be if we get more snow.
The stouter sun and ice crusts on all lower elevation and sunny slopes may or may not soften today.
The last reported avalanches in the Ogden area mountains were over a week ago.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center completed their report from a fatal avalanche about a week ago and is worth reading because conditions there are similar to conditions in Utah. Full report HERE.