Ogden Avalanche Advisory

Forecaster: Drew Hardesty

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Whole Foods Market in Cottonwood Heights is helping to raise funds for avalanche education. The store, at 6930 S. Highland Drive, will donate 5 percent of its net sales on Jan. 13 to the Utah Avalanche Center. We will present a 50-minute “Know Before You Go” safety presentation there at 7 p.m.

Bruce Tremper will be giving a Science of Avalanches talk at the SLC REI on Tuesday night. Go to our home page calendar for more details on this and other upcoming events.


BOTTOM LINE

Danger by aspect and elevation on slopes approaching 35° or steeper.
(click HERE for tomorrow's danger rating)


Danger Rose Tutorial

Most of the backcountry continues to have a LOW danger. Pockets of MODERATE (Level 2) danger exists for minor super soft wind slab development along the high lee ridgelines. In the wind affected areas (high northeast to southeast facing slopes), I expect the shallow slabs to be very sensitive and it’s possible that they may be triggered at a distance. Any moving snow is likely to run fast and far, gathering plenty of the low density snow on the way to the runout.


CURRENT CONDITIONS

Snow totals look to be in the 1-3” category with the upper Cottonwoods squeezing the most water out of stone. Or rather, snow out of water. It’s pure smoke. Less than 3%. It looks like we’re about done, though we can expect off and on flurries throughout the day. Temperatures plummeted to the single digits and the winds, thankfully, are light except along the highest peaks and ridgelines, where they’re just starting to blow 20-30 gusting to 40. Riding conditions remain excellent in the untracked wind and sun sheltered terrain.

Mark your calendars. We’ll be referring to this now buried weakness as the January 8th surface hoar layer. Clear skies, cold nights, high humidity, light wind…that lucky combination of meteorological phenomena that over the past week recrystallized the snow on the surface and grew the sheets of surface hoar above. Unfortunately, it wasn’t systematically destroyed prior to this new snowfall – so it’ll be well preserved until we see the next weather event of heavy snowfall and/or heavy wind loading.


RECENT ACTIVITY

None.


THREAT #1

WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 24 hours.

Sluffing will be the primary concern on the steepest, highest, confined terrain.


THREAT #2

WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 24 hours.

One can also expect to see development of some shallow yet very sensitive super soft wind drifts along the highest lee northeast to southeast facing slopes. It may be possible to trigger these from a distance, though I don’t imagine that they’d pose too much trouble.


MOUNTAIN WEATHER

Occasional flurries and potential lake bands of snow are likely throughout the day. The northwest winds should become light by late morning and less than 15mph. Temps will remain in the icebox, dropping to near zero degrees Fahrenheit. We’ll get some clearing later Monday into Tuesday with perhaps the next storm on tap for Thursday night into Friday. The weather models backed off the strong series of storms for late week and weather forecast confidence is low toward the end of the 7 day period.


GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

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.

Subscribe to the daily avalanche advisory e-mail click HERE.

UDOT canyon closures UDOT at (801) 975-4838

You have the opportunity to participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory by submitting avalanche and snow observations. You can also call us at 801-524-5304 or 800-662-4140, or email to uac@utahavalanchecenter.org

Donate to your favorite non-profit – The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center. The UAC depends on contributions from users like you to support our work.

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.

We will update this forecast tomorrow morning. Thanks for calling.


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.


This advisory provided by the USDA Forest Service, in partnership with:

The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Division of State Parks and Recreation, Utah Division of Emergency Management, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake Unified Fire Authority and the friends of the La Sal Avalanche Center. See our Sponsors Page for a complete list.