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Forecast for the Ogden Area Mountains

Mark Staples
Issued by Mark Staples on
Saturday morning, March 24, 2018

Avalanche conditions are tricky and weird today. Multiple problems involving dry snow and wet snow exist. Until the snowpack has a solid refreeze, the best option is to avoid avalanche terrain by riding slopes less than 30 degrees without steeper ones above you.

  1. Mid and upper elevations have dangerous avalanche conditions and a CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger. Wet loose avalanches and persistent slab avalanches can occur in these elevations. Wind slabs can be found as well but should be shallow.
  2. Low elevations have minimal snow and a LOW danger. Any snow remaining after Thursday's drenching rain, is likely to stay in place today.
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
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Weather and Snow

Yesterday morning a trace to 2 inches of additional snow fell. The sun appeared around noon and skies cleared overnight. Temperatures this morning mostly in the mid 30's F and below freezing above 9000 feet. Winds at 9000 feet are averaging 20-30 mph from the south and gusting 40-50 mph.

Storm totals (Thursday through Friday morning) are about 1.5 to 2 inches of water. At low elevations, this precipitation was all rain. At upper elevations it was 10-11 inches of snow.

The snowpack yesterday was warm, weak and wet. If you stepped out of your skis or board, you'd quickly sink to your waist. Clear skies and below freezing temperatures last night have likely only refrozen the snow surface.

Recent Avalanches

Ski patrols were able to easily start wet loose avalanches by pushing the surface snow with their skis yesterday.

An avalanche was spotted on Willard Peak yesterday. While it looks small in the picture, it must be very deep because the photo was taken from so far away. (N. Scarlett)

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Avalanche Problem #1
Wet Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

The snowpack is totally wet. With clear skies overnight, the surface likely refroze but will quickly soften today under strong sunshine this morning. Wet loose avalanches should be easy to trigger today.

Avalanche Problem #2
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

The loading from 1.5 to 2 inches of precipitation has added a lot of stress to the snowpack. Weak, faceted snow still exists near the ground on mid and high elevation slopes. Avalanches can still break 1-3 feet deep especially on slopes above 8000 feet in steep rocky areas. The natural slide spotted on Willard Peak is a good example. That slide broke deep in the snowpack and ran a very long distance.

Avalanche Problem #3
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Strong southerly winds this morning will find some snow to transport and create fresh wind slabs this morning.

Additional Information

The Ogden mountains could pick up a few more inches of snow this morning and maybe see a little sunshine this afternoon. 8000' temps will creep upward again topping out near 40F is some areas. West southwest winds should remain fairly benign throughout the day. An unsettled pattern moves into place for the weekend bringing with it cooler temps and a chance for more snow.

Check out our Ogden weather page here.

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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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