We are sad to report that a 60-yr-old skier was killed by a large avalanche Sunday in the backcountry near Pebble Creek ski resort outside of Pocatello, Idaho. This avalanche is not in our forecast zone, but we will assist in the investigation.
We know there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the Coronavirus, but the Utah Avalanche Center is planning to continue issuing regular avalanche forecasts into April.
Uphill Travel at Ski Areas - Some resorts will be offering limited uphill access, but not all do. Current info about uphill access from Ski Utah is posted
HERE.
Under cloudy skies, the long-awaited storm is finally here. As of 6:30 am, there is 1"to 3" inches of new snow containing 0.25" of water. Mountain temperatures have cooled overnight and are currently in the low 20's °F above 9,000' in elevation. The freezing line is about 7,000' where the temperature is 32°F. Winds are from the south and southwest blowing 10-15 mph gusting into the 20's along the upper elevation ridgelines.
For today, we can expect the snow to continue through the morning and tapering off into snow showers this afternoon. Winds will remain from the southerly direction and could be gusty at times. Temperatures will climb into the upper 20's °F at 10,000'. The total new snow for today looks to be in the 2-4" range.
As a closed low slowly moves overhead, it will "stall" over Utah, and we will continue to see snow for the remainder of the week. Fingers crossed it will begin to stack up.
Yesterday, we had two reported avalanches. One was a cornice fall in upper Days Fork that took out a skin track. The other was a shallow wind slab in upper Little Cottonwood Canyon; it was reported at 9,500' in the Pole Line Pass area.
