Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Ogden Area Mountains Issued by Evelyn Lees for Thursday - January 12, 2017 - 7:36am
bottom line

The avalanche danger is HIGH on steep upper elevation slopes where wind drifts, cornices and new snow avalanches can be easily triggered by a person. The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE on mid and low elevation slopes. Natural avalanches may occur this afternoon if we get a period of heavy snowfall. Travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended.

If you do venture into the backcountry, you need expert snowpack and terrain evaluation skills and conservative decision-making. Look at a map, measure your slope angles and stay off of and out from under slopes steeper than about 30 degrees. Low angle turning and riding is fast, so you can still have fun out of the steep avalanche terrain.
avalanche warning

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

* TIMING...THE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH 6 AM MST FRIDAY. * AFFECTED AREA...THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN UTAH TO INCLUDE...THE WASATCH RANGE...THE BEAR RIVER RANGE...THE MOUNTAINS OF SOUTHEAST IDAHO...THE WESTERN UNITAS...AND THE MANTI-SKYLINE PLATEAU.

* AVALANCHE DANGER...THE AVALANCHE DANGER IS HIGH.

* REASON/IMPACTS...NUMEROUS DAYS OF HEAVY SNOWFALL AND STRONG WINDS HAVE CREATED WIDESPREAD AVALANCHE DANGER. BOTH HUMAN TRIGGERED AND NATURAL AVALANCHES ARE LIKELY. STAY OFF OF AND OUT FROM UNDER SLOPES STEEPER THAN 30 DEGREES.
special announcement

Avalanche Education in the Ogden mountains

Thursday January 12th – 6pm – Introduction to Avalanches Class (registration is required)

Location: Amer Sports and Snowbasin (Field Day - Saturday January 14th)

Friday January 13th – 12:30pm – FREE Beacon Clinic – POW! day at Powder Mountain

Location: Main parking lot at Powder Mountain

Friday January 13th – 5-8pm – Companion Rescue Fundamentals Class (registration is required)

Location: Snowbasin Ski Resort

Friday January 13th – 6pm – FREE Know Before You Go Avalanche Awareness Presentation

Location: AD Triple S Motorsports, West Haven, UT

Snowbird Speaker Series: Douglas Stoup is the world's leading polar adventurer and has skied to the North and South Poles more than anyone on the planet. He will be speaking at the Wildflower Lounge at Snowbird at 6 pm on Thursday night, Jan 12 with a raffle to benefit the Utah Avalanche Center. Details here.
current conditions

The storm backed off a bit, with the Ogden area mountains receiving "only" 5 to 6 inches of snow overnight, putting 24-hour totals anywhere from 8 to 21”. Skies are overcast this morning, temperatures are in the low to mid 20s and the winds are very light, averaging less than 15 mph even across the higher peaks.

For the 5-day storm totals since Saturday, the 7th, I’m focusing on inches of water, not snow. The Ogden area mountains are very variable, but with the largest water numbers around Ben Lomond and Powder mountain – 8 to 9” of water. The Provo area mountains are on the high end, with 5-7” of water in their storm total. The Cottonwoods and Park City area mountains have received 2 ½ to 4 ½ inches of water weight, with upper Big Cottonwood Canyon significantly more.

recent activity

Yesterday, a very close call involving a group of motorized assisted snowboarders occurred in the Smith-Moorehouse area in the Uintas. Two snowboarders triggered a large slide, were buried, recovered, and sustained very serious injuries, but at the end of the day survived. Craig and Trent will visit the site today.

Avalanche reduction work at the Ogden resorts and for the highway triggered numerous large avalanches, which mostly seemed to be new snow, especially in the areas that received the most snow.
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

Days of strong winds have created huge cornices along the ridge lines and deep drifts of snow on many at mid and upper elevation slopes. The drifts are widespread - along the ridge lines, in open bowls, at mid slope break overs and cross loaded along sub ridges – and becoming more stubborn. If you trigger one, it will be deep and dangerous. Perhaps 3 to 4 feet deep.

Also, keep a sharp eye on today’s southeasterly winds – while forecast to be very light, if speeds increase, the avalanche danger will increase.
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

Even out of the wind-affected terrain, triggering a new snow slab avalanche 1 to 2 feet deep on one of the mid-storm weak layers is possible on steep slopes. Buried low-density snow or graupel could serve as a weak layer. Sluffs can also be triggered, and could occur naturally during periods of heavy snowfall this afternoon
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

At the mid and low elevations, there is a very variable rain crust, which in places is poorly bonded to facets beneath it in places. This layering is involved in some of the slides that closed Logan Canyon yesterday, and any slide breaking by this ice crust will be deep. A smaller new snow slide might be able to trigger a deeper slide on this layering. Also, the sheer weight of all the recent snow has probably triggered a few deeper slides, and a few more could still occur. Just too much snow, too fast, for the snowpack to adjust everywhere.
weather

The models have broadened the extent of the next wave of snow, with heavier precipitation now expected in northern Utah. Snow should increase by late morning, becoming heavier this afternoon with an additional 4 to 8 inches possible. Temperatures will warm into the mid to upper 20s at 8,000’. The southeasterly winds are forecast to remain light, averaging 5 to 15 mph at all elevations, with gusts less than 25 mph.

Snow is expected to become showery this evening through Friday, with a few more inches of snow possible tonight and tomorrow. Winds will remain light, and shift to the southwest. A dry northerly flow sets up this weekend as high pressure builds in from the west. Another potentially warm, wet event looks on tap for the latter half of next week.
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.

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.