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Forecast for the Ogden Area Mountains

Trent Meisenheimer
Issued by Trent Meisenheimer on
Monday morning, March 12, 2018

The avalanche danger is MODERATE on steep slopes facing northwest through southeasterly at the mid and upper elevations. Avalanches 1 to 2 feet deep can be triggered by a rider, especially in thinner snowpack areas.

Warm temperatures and periods of sun will heat the snow, and wet loose avalanches can be triggered on all aspects on mid and low elevation slopes and on steep, sunny slopes later today.

Roof-avalanches are occurring as snow slides off building roofs, with debris piles deep enough to bury and kill a person.

Low
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Weather and Snow

Under partly cloudy skies it should be a beautiful sunrise - Above 9,000' overnight temperatures hovered around freezing 32°F. Below 9,000' temperatures are above 32°F. Winds are calm, generally from the south and west, with even the highest elevation anemometers hardly spinning. Overnight temperatures just barely dropped below freezing so you can expect a shallow re-freeze of the snowpack surface and many of the crusted aspects will warm and soften quickly today. Upper elevation northerly facing slopes still hold dry soft snow.

Recent Avalanches

No avalanches were reported in the Ogden area - However, another slab avalanche was triggered yesterday by a snowmobiler in the Guardsman's Pass area. It was on a SE facing slope at 9500' in elevation. This avalanche failed initially as a wind slab and quickly stepped down to the ground. It was 150' wide, and up to 6' deep, running 500' downslope. Nobody caught. (see pic below).

HERE is a list of all avalanche activity reported for Ogden.

Photo: Andrew Nassetta - Yesterday's sled triggered slab avalanche from Guardsman area.

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

Poor snowpack structure exists above about 8000' on shady aspects and avalanches may be triggered by a skier or a rider, especially in thinner snowpack zones. Recent triggered avalanches in Coldwater Canyon to the north of Snowbasin and in the Bountiful area as well as natural avalanches on the Cutler and Willard headwalls are good indicators that persistent weak layers are still active. Staying off of and out from under slopes steeper than about 30 degrees mitigates this problem.

Avalanche Problem #2
Wet Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Wet Loose: As the temperatures warm into the 30s and 40s today, the snow will once again become wet and sloppy. Rider triggered or natural wet loose avalanches will be possible on all aspects and elevations except the mid and upper northerly facing slopes. This is an easy problem to avoid. When the snow surface becomes damp or you start seeing roller balls cascading down from above - it's time to change to a cooler (shady) aspect, or go home.

Cornices have softened and are sensitive, often breaking back further than expected, on what looks like flat terrain. So give them a wide berth and avoid travel below them.

Roof-avalanches: Buildings are starting to shed their winter snow, so look up and avoid travel below steep roofs.

Additional Information

Partly to mostly cloudy skies and warming temperatures are on tap for today. Mountain temperatures will climb into the 30's and 40's. Winds will remain from the south and west blowing 5-15 mph at the upper elevations. The warming trend will continue into Wednesday, with a chance for mountain snow and cooler temperatures late in the week.

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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 occur.

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