Advisory: Ogden Area Mountains | utahavalanchecenter.org

Avalanche Advisory

Advisory: Ogden Area Mountains	Issued by Mark Staples for Thursday - January 5, 2017 - 7:02am

bottom line

Today with an Avalanche Warning in effect, the avalanche danger is HIGH at upper elevations and CONSIDERABLE at mid elevations due to wind slabs, storm slabs and persistent slab avalanche problems. So much new snow from this storm and one early this week has created dangerous avalanche conditions.

avalanche warning

THE FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER IN SALT LAKE CITY HAS CONTINUED A BACKCOUNTRY AVALANCHE WARNING.

* TIMING...IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM MST THIS MORNING TO 6 AM MST FRIDAY

* AFFECTED AREA...FOR THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN UTAH INCLUDING THE WASATCH RANGE...BEAR RIVER RANGE AND THE WESTERN UINTA MOUNTAINS.

* AVALANCHE DANGER...THE AVALANCHE DANGER FOR THE WARNING AREA IS HIGH.

* REASON/IMPACTS...HEAVY SNOW HAS CREATED WIDESPREAD AREAS OF UNSTABLE SNOW. BOTH HUMAN TRIGGERED AND NATURAL AVALANCHES ARE LIKELY OR OCCURRING. STAY OFF OF AND OUT FROM UNDER SLOPES STEEPER THAN 30 DEGREES.

THIS WARNING DOES NOT APPLY TO SKI AREAS WHERE AVALANCHE HAZARD REDUCTION MEASURES ARE PERFORMED.

special announcement

The Salt Lake City premier of The Fourth Phase from the creators of The Art of Flight will at Brewvies at 7 pm on Monday, Jan 9 as a fundraiser for the Utah Avalanche Center. For tickets and details, go to https://utahavalanchecenter.org/event/fourth-phase

current conditions

Temperatures have dropped into the single digits and low teens F this morning as the storm is ending and skies are clearing. Wind speeds appear to have decreased as they have shifted to the NW and are blowing about 10 mph with gusts of 15 mph.

This storm started late Tuesday night and is ending this morning. It started warm with lots of graupel and finished cold with some light snow; therefore, its hard to say exactly how much snow fell. What we know for sure is how much water this snow contained, thus how much weight was added to the snowpack which is a more important number in terms of avalanche danger. More water weight = more stress = more avalanches. Snow water equivalent numbers for this storm (36 hour total) range from 1.8 inches water near Farmington and Lookout Peak to 2.5 inches of water near Powder Mountain to 3.2 inches of water at Ben Lomond Peak. Snow totals are roughly 10-20 inches.

Video of Craig Gordon explaining why the storm increased the avalanche danger.

recent activity

The only reported avalanche yesterday was a wind slab in someone's driveway last night in the Ogden valley. We don't have other reports of avalanche activity in the backcountry, but I'm certain there was some from the strong westerly winds and heavy snowfall. The peak instability likely occurred sometime late yesterday or last night. We may see evidence of these slides today. When small slides are happening in driveways, it's usually a good clue that avalanches are happening i the mountains.

Photo - D. Wewer

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 Strong westerly winds blew yesterday during the storm. An observer on Cutler Ridge of Ben Lomond Peak observed winds transporting snow yesterday at both mid and high elevations. Even though I think the peak instability occurred last night, I'm being conservative today with the danger rating simply based on the amount of new snow from this storm coupled with the storm from Monday/Tuesday.

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 Monday/Tuesday's storm was cold and produced light snow which is now capped by dense snow from this storm. Another observer on Ben Lomond Peak yesterday got very easy fractures within the new snow about a foot deep with just one light tap from his wrist. Dense, cohesive snow on top of light snow is always a good recipe for avalanches. This type of instability can heal in 24 hours. Unfortunately the weight of this new snow may keep deeper layers unstable for a longer period (see the next avalanche problem below).

Avalanche Problem 3

type	aspect/elevation	characteristics
		LIKELIHOOD LIKELY UNLIKELY SIZE LARGE SMALL TREND INCREASING DANGER SAME DECREASING DANGER over the next 24 hours
description With the weight of new snow from both early this week and yesterday, deeper layers in the snowpack will be stressed and can cause larger avalanches. Last Thursday on Ben Lomond Peak, Drew and I consistently found a layer of facets on all aspects below 7500 feet above a thick ice crust that formed during rain in mid-December. We also found weak, faceted snow crystals on the snow surface but this layer was likely destroyed by strong winds before getting buried. I'm unsure how reactive these layers will be today, but don't trust them with so much weight on top.

weather

With cold air descending from the north, today shouldn't warm at all and temperatures may even continue to drop a few more degrees. The good news is that winds should steadily decrease through the day and the sun may break through cloudy skies by afternoon.

general announcements

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please help us out by submitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can also call us at 801-524-5304, email by clicking HERE, or include #utavy in your tweet or Instagram.

To get help in an emergency (to request a rescue) in the Wasatch, call 911. Be prepared to give your GPS coordinates or the run name. Dispatchers have a copy of the Wasatch Backcountry Ski map.

Backcountry Emergencies. It outlines your step-by-step method in the event of a winter backcountry incident.

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry, but no one is hurt and you do not need assistance, please notify the nearest ski area dispatch to avoid a needless response by rescue teams. Thanks.

Salt Lake and Park City – Alta Central (801-742-2033), Canyons Resort/PCMR Dispatch (435-615-1911)
Ogden - Snowbasin Resort Dispatch (801-620-1017), Powder Mountain Dispatch (801-745-3772 x 123)
Provo - Sundance Dispatch (801-223-4150)

EMAIL ADVISORY If you would like to get the daily advisory by email you will need to subscribe here.

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

TWITTER Updates for your mobile phone - DETAILS

UDOT canyon closures: LINK TO UDOT, or on Twitter, follow @UDOTavy, @CanyonAlerts or @AltaCentral

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

Powderbird Helicopter Skiing - Blog/itinerary for the day

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

Ski Utah mobile snow updates

To those skinning uphill at resorts: it is critical to know the resort policy on uphill travel. You can see the uphill travel policy for each resort here.

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you shop from Backcountry.com or REI: Click this link for Backcountry.com or this link to REI, shop, and they will donate a percent of your purchase price to the UAC. Both offer free shipping (with some conditions) so this costs you nothing!

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you buy or sell on ebay - set the Utah Avalanche Center as a favorite non-profit in your ebay account here and click on ebay gives when you buy or sell. You can choose to have your seller fees donated to the UAC, which doesn't cost you a penny.

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.

Sponsor Ads