Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Ogden Area Mountains Issued by Bruce Tremper for Friday - February 7, 2014 - 6:11am
bottom line

Expect rapidly rising avalanche danger today and through the weekend as new snow accumulates and the wind picks up. You should avoid all avalanche terrain. This means stay off of, and out from underneath, slopes of about 30 degrees or steeper. The avalanche danger today is Orange (Considerable) and you can expect it to rise to Red (High) danger by Saturday and through the weekend.
avalanche warning

THIS AVALANCHE WARNING IS FOR THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN AND CENTRAL UTAH. EXPECTED SNOW AND WIND FRIDAY THROUGH THE WEEKEND WILL CREATE DANGEROUS AVALANCHE CONDITIONS. THE WARNING BEGINS IN THE LOGAN AND OGDEN AREA MOUNTAINS TODAY AND THE WASATCH RANGE, UINTA MOUNTAINS AND MANTI SKYLINE TONIGHT. DANGEROUS AVALANCHE CONDITIONS SHOULD PERSIST THROUGH THE WEEKEND. THIS WARNING DOES NOT INCLUDE SKI AREAS OR HIGHWAYS WHERE AVALANCHE CONTROL IS NORMALLY DONE.
current conditions

The storm has begun in the Logan and Ogden area mountains and is just starting in the Salt Lake area mountains. The Logan area mountains have 8 inches of new snow with 1.2 inches of water in the past 48 hours with Ben Lomond peak near Ogden at .9 inches of water. Solitude is reporting 8 inches of dense graupel this morning at the top of their mountain with upside-down, slabby snow although Little Cottonwood Canyon has much less. The ridge top winds are moderate from the southwest and ridge top temperatures have warmed from near zero yesterday to around 15 degrees today. Saturday should be much warmer, windier and snowier.

The pre-existing snow had extensive wind damage above about 10,000' from wind a couple days ago with soft powder and recrystallized snow on the wind sheltered slopes.
recent activity

Six people have been caught in 3 different avalanches in the past 2 days, which includes two people yesterday who triggered a wind slab on their ascent near the avalanche on Monte Cristo that caught a couple people on Wednesday. Here is the list of human triggered avalanches in the past couple days. Most people triggered fresh wind slabs and some of them appeared to break down to some faceted snow layers a couple feet deep.

Date Region Place Trigger Depth Width Aspect Elevation Weakness
02/6/2014 Salt Lake Monte Cristo Skier 10" 40 Northeast 10700 Details
02/5/2014 Salt Lake Porter Fork Snowboarder 12" 30 Northeast 9700 Density Change Details
02/5/2014 Salt Lake Little Water Peak Unknown unknown 70 North 9600 Details
02/5/2014 Salt Lake White Pine Snowboarder 8" 25 West 9900 Details
02/5/2014 Salt Lake Lake Peak Skier North 10600 Details
02/5/2014 Salt Lake Mineral Fork Unknown unknown 100 Northeast 9400 Details
02/5/2014 Big Cottonwood Canyon Superior Skier North 10900 Facets Details

Avalanche Problem 1
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

We are ticking off all the red flags today--dense snow, wind, warming temperatures and poor snow structure. Expect to see widespread soft slabs within the new snow as the snow accumulates. The snow is reportedly upside down and slabby as the storm deposits dense graupel on top of the light, fluffy snow on the surface before the storm. Expect rapidly rising danger today as the new snow accumulates especially if the wind picks up.
Avalanche Problem 2
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

Persistent weak layers of faceted snow exist on many slopes especially in thin snowpack areas. As the new snow overloads these layers today and through the weekend, you can expect to see some avalanches breaking into deeper weak layers, which will create much larger and more dangerous avalanches. Since there was so much spatial variability in the pre-existing snow, it's impossible to tell where you will find these more dangerous slopes. This weekend is not the time to get fancy. Just avoid avalanche terrain. You can have plenty of fun on gentler terrain. If you want steep terrain, go to a resort.
weather

It should be pretty wild over the next three days. The storm is spreading from northern Utah into the Wasatch Range and Uinta Mountains today. Expect snow, heavy at times, which will continue to accumulate through the weekend with the crescendo on Saturday when snow and wind will reach its maximum. We're expecting perhaps 30 inches of snow by Sunday with 2-3 inches of water weight. On Saturday, ridge top winds are forecast to blow 50 mph from the west with gusts to 70. Temperatures will continue to warm all weekend and on Saturday, the rain-snow line may rise to around 6,000'. New snow will become more and more dense. The storm is coming from the west so it should give the mountains a relatively even blanket of snow.
general announcements

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory by submitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can also call us at 801-524-5304 or 800-662-4140, email by clicking HERE, or include #utavy in your tweet or Instagram.

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 and Park City – Alta Central (801-742-2033), Canyons Resort Dispatch (435-615-3322)

Snowbasin Resort Dispatch (801-620-1017), Powder Mountain Dispatch (801-745-3772 x 123).

Sundance Dispatch (801-223-4150)

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DAWN PATROL Hotline updated daily by 5-530am - 888-999-4019 option 8.

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UDOT canyon closures:  LINK TO UDOT

Utah Avalanche Center mobile app - Get your advisory on your iPhone along with great navigation and rescue tools.uned.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides Blog/Itinerary for the Day.  

Lost or Found something in the backcountry? - http://nolofo.com/

Ski Utah mobile snow updates

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To those skinning uphill at resorts:  it is your responsibility to know the resort policy on uphill travel.  Some allow uphill travel and have guidelines, some don't. Contact the Ski Patrol at each resort for details. IMPORTANT: Before skinning at a resort under new snow conditions, check in with Ski Patrol.  Resorts can restrict or cut off access if incompatible with control and grooming operations.

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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 exist.