Ogden Avalanche Advisory

Forecaster: Bruce Tremper

BOTTOM LINE

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


Danger Rose Tutorial

You should continue to avoid the upper elevation, north through east facing slopes with old wind slabs, which will break out fairly easily about a foot deep. Most of the snow without a slab seems to be staying in place fairly well. Overall, the avalanche danger is Level 2 (Moderate).


CURRENT CONDITIONS

Same as it ever was. Beautiful weather with light winds. Highs near freezing and in the teens in the morning.

Unfortunately, the snowpack is also the same as it ever was, thin, rocky, extremely variable. There's only a couple feet of extremely weak, bottomless, faceted snow on the north and east facing slopes with almost no snow on south and west facing slopes.


RECENT ACTIVITY

It was another active day of avalanche control by the Park City ski patrol in unskied terrain that has not been controlled with explosives yet this season. See my video from yesterday. Pretty much everything we popped with explosives slid as the old wind slab broke out 1 - 1.5 feet deep and it was definitely sensitive enough that a skier, boarder or snowmobiler could have triggered it. One avalanche near Scott's Pass took out a few ski tracks from a couple days ago.

Another party on Reynolds Peak in Big Cottonwood Canyon was able to trigger a small slab just by throwing a chunk of snow onto the slope.

All these slopes are east facing near ridge lines where old wind slabs still linger.


THREAT #1

WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 24 hours.

As you can see from the recent activity, you can see where these "persistent slabs" got their name. It has been nearly a week since we had any new snow or wind and they are still sensitive, sometimes even to the weight of a chunk of snow being thrown on them. They are your basic nightmare. Yes, they are relatively shallow but big enough to ruin your day and they remain fairly sensitive. You will find them mostly along the upper elevation, wind exposed ridges, especially on the north through east facing slopes.


MOUNTAIN WEATHER

Another beautiful day in the mountains with highs near freezing and lows in the teens with light winds.

The more significant news is that it looks stormier for next week, so stay tuned. We will have a cold front Sunday night into Monday that should give us perhaps 4 inches of snow with significantly colder temperatures. Then, mid week through next weekend looks very windy, warm and possibly wet. One computer model gives us 4 inches of water starting mid week while another computer model keeps the moisture more north of us leaving us with more like a half inch of water. Either way, it looks warm and windy and there is a good chance we will be issuing avalanche warnings for the second half of next week.

Stay tuned.


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)

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 UDOTat (801) 975-4838

Wasatch Powderbird Guides are suspending the opening of helicopter skiing operations. Once we have enough snow cover, daily updates to this bloghttp://powderbird.blogspot.com/will begin for the 2011-2012 season.

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

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.

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.