An AVALANCHE WARNING has been issued for all the mountains of central and northern Utah. The current snow storm has added a significant amount of snow causing large natural avalanches. With the storm is letting up somewhat today, more people may be accessing the backcountry, however, dangerous avalanche conditions will remain through today. Backcountry travel on or below any steep slope is not recommended today.

While I’m not expecting natural avalanches today I’m still putting the danger at mostly Level 4 (HIGH) in the steep mid and upper elevation terrain because I feel that it will be very dangerous for people that may try to get into steep slopes. People should avoid all slopes approaching 35 degrees in steepness especially the upper elevations where the wind was wreaking havoc yesterday. Human triggered avalanches could be quite large today and definitely out of the manageable category.

Wow, we’ve just had another incredible storm. It’s not that often that places like Parleys Summit, Jeremy Ranch and Daniels Summit receive as much snow as the Cottonwoods. The Cottonwoods are in the 20 inch range with around 1.8 inches of water with Brighton closer to 30 inches. The Park City Ridge has similar amounts with Deer Valley picking up a bit more. The Ogden area did quite well especially around Ben Lomond where 30 inches was added to the total depth stake and Snowbasin snow safety reports 22 inches with 2.3 inches of water. The Provo area may be the big winner with over 4 inches of water in at least 30 inches of snow. Temperatures are in the single digits and northerly winds have tapered off and have light to moderate speeds.

As far as we can tell, Provo was the epicenter of the avalanche activity on Wednesday. Large natural class 4 avalanches peeled off Timpanogos coming very close to highway 189 in Provo Canyon and also significantly dusting the Sundance ski area where metal fencing was bent over from the wind blast. The Provo Canyon UDOT guys were very busy dealing with smaller avalanches reaching the road going to Sundance as well as control work in American Fork that put avalanches on the road. Visibility was poor yesterday not allowing us to see much in the Cottonwoods but I did trigger one avalanche in Rocky Point outside of the Alta Ski area that was 20 inches deep and 150 feet wide. I also examined a natural avalanche in the Dog Lake Chutes outside of the Brighton Ski resort that was about the same size. There was a human triggered avalanche outside of the Brighton ski area on the Mary’s Lake Ridge that broke up to 3 feet deep, no one was caught. I was a bit unnerved to see that the natural in the Dog Lake Chutes and the human triggered in Mary’s Lake Ridge broke into old snow from last week. UDOT Big Cottonwood also reported triggering slab avalanches with ski cuts that were breaking under last weeks rain crust at the mid and lower elevations.

We’ll see snow showers today that probably won’t add all that much accumulation for the most part. Things may pick up a bit later this afternoon so plan accordingly so you’re not caught somewhere if it does start snowing hard. Winds will be mostly light to moderate in speeds from the north and may even have a northeast direction. Temperatures are going to remain cold in the single digits. The storm will continue through Friday with another good impulse that may produce a last round of snow Friday morning. Temperatures remain cold through this period.

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry - especially if you are adjacent to a ski area – please call the following teams to alert them to the slide and whether anyone is missing or not. Rescue teams can be exposed to significant hazard when responding to avalanches, and do not want to do so when unneeded. Thanks.

Salt Lake – Alta Central (801-742-2033)

Ogden – Snowbasin Patrol Dispatch (801-620-1017)

Provo – Sundance Patrol Dispatch (801-223-4150)

Discount Lift tickets: Ski Utah, Backcountry.com, Alta, Deer Valley, Park City, The Canyons, Wolf Mountain, Snowbasin, Beaver Mountain, Brighton, Sundance, and Solitude have donated a limited number of tickets for sale.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides flight plan.

Dawn Patrol Forecast Hotline, updated by 05:30: 888-999-4019 option 8.

Daily observations are frequently posted by 10 pm each evening.

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UDOT canyon closures UDOT at (801) 975-4838

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