Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Ogden Area Mountains Issued by Drew Hardesty for Tuesday - December 19, 2017 - 6:52am
bottom line

The avalanche danger is LOW – but small avalanches can be triggered in isolated areas or extreme terrain. The most likely avalanche to trigger would be a small, old shallow wind drift at the highest elevations.

The snow pack is very shallow - riding is really only possible at the upper elevations in the Ogden area mountains, and even there, staying on lower angle, grassy slopes or sticking to snow packed roads will reduce the number of rocks and stumps you hit.
special announcement

Don’t know what to buy your favorite skier for Christmas? Discount lift tickets for Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, Solitude, Deer Valley, Snowbasin,and Beaver Mountain are now available, donated by the resorts to benefit the Utah Avalanche Center. Details and order information here. These make a great holiday gift and all proceeds go towards paying for avalanche forecasting and education!
current conditions

Skies are currently moslty clear with temperatures in the upper-20s to low 30s. Winds are west to northwest at 10-15mph along the highest ridgelines.

After Saturday night's 2-3", we're still looking at total snow on the ground on shady, upper elevation slopes is around 12-18" with much of it weak sugary facets over a variey of crusts. Sunny slopes are a mix of crusty snow and bare ground, and there’s only patchy snow at the mid and lower elevations.

View the latest Ogden observations here.

recent activity

None.
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

Though the avalanche danger is LOW, small avalanches can still be triggered in isolated places. Perhaps a small, shallow old wind drift at the highest elevation.

The snowpack on the shady slopes consists of weak crusts and sugary faceted snow. This is a concern for the future when we finally get snow. For now, it’s amazing just to dig your hand into the snow and see how loose and weak it is.

weather

We'll have initially clear skies with building clouds in the early afternoon. Temperatures will be reaching near freezing along the ridgelines. Winds will be 15-20mph from the west. Strong southwest pre-frontal winds kick in later this afternoon, heralding an approaching cold front for through Wednesday midday. Expect 3-7" possible, though it'll be very low density - just enough to cover up, but not smooth over, the old ruts, crusts, and thinly buried obstacles. Mountain temps plummet to the low single digits on Thursday, with a colder, drier storm on tap for for Friday night. The fly in the ointment are the sustained upper end of moderate northerly winds that persist both after Wednesday's front and through the weekend.
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 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

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.

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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 occur.