Today, I expect partly sunny skies in the Ogden area mountains. When the sun comes out or the clouds thin...the surface snow will almost instantly heat, and wet loose avalanches and shallow wet slabs will become easy to trigger. Thinning of the clouds means the snow will heat on all aspects and elevations except steep, upper elevation northerly facing slopes. Direct sun will heat steep, sunny slopes.

Clues will be abundant if the snow heats - you will feel the hot April sun, the snow becomes sticky or damp, pinwheels or swarms of roller balls race downhill, you’re triggering small sluffs or the snow is falling off rocks and trees. Danger for wet sluffs can rise from LOW to MODERATE in minutes. Wet avalanche debris piles up instead of spreading out, and even small slides can deposit 4 feet of cement like debris. Get off steep slopes, head to low angle slopes and avoid travel beneath steep slopes and avalanche run out zones. Have a game plan for your exit out of the backcountry.

The old wet snow at the mid and lower elevations of the Ogden area mountains is still saturated, and any collapsing is a clue that it is still weak, and steep slopes should be avoided.