We will be issuing intermittent morning or afternoon avalanche advisories as conditions warrant. This advisory will cover Tuesday, October 27 through Wednesday October 28th. Brett Kobernik will update the advisory again Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

The danger will rise to MODERATE along the drifted highest elevations of the Central Wasatch and Bear River Ranges over the next couple of days, particularly with the stronger forecasted winds tonight. The danger in the Western Uintas will rise to MODERATE and perhaps CONSIDERABLE if forecasted storm totals of 2-3’ verify. Hikers, hunters, and early season skiers and riders should avoid steep upper elevation slopes that receive a foot of snow or more over the next couple of days. Every season we have a few ugly close calls, with a few fatalities on the spreadsheet over the last 30 years.

A change is gonna come. The strong cold weather system on our doorstep will usher in a good shot of snow, strong gusty winds and plummeting temperatures. Pre-frontal gusty southwesterly winds reach into the 40’s with occasional gusts into the 60’s, but we’re already seeing the wind shift along the northern flank of the range. Temperatures in the upper 20’s and upper 30’s will plummet to the low teens. Models suggest 4-6” initially in the mountains today with perhaps another few inches tonight. The storm will particularly favor the Oquirrhs and especially the north flank of the Uintas with up to and over 2’ of snow possible by late Wednesday.

Here’s a primer for the early season.

We’ll see a good burst of snow with frontal passage this morning and then continued showers and flurries through the day. Temperatures will drop to the low teens and the northwesterly winds will move along at 20-25mph. The trough of Low Pressure diving through the state will ultimately pinch off into a closed circulation, centered over the Colorado/Utah border, resulting in a wrap-around north to northeasterly flow. This type of flow benefits the Oquirrhs and Western Uintas; subsequently, they’ll see the lion’s share of the precipitation. Stronger northerly winds kick in tonight to blow 40-45mph along the higher peaks. We’ll see partly to mostly cloudy skies by Thursday with a potential brush-by for late Thursday into Friday.

We will be issuing intermittent morning or afternoon avalanche advisories as conditions change.

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We appreciate avalanche and snow observations. If there’s something we should know about give us a call at (801) 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140, or email us at uac@utahavalanchecenter.org. (Fax 801-524-6301).

The information in this advisory is from the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.