The danger for wet avalanches will rapidly rise to CONSIDERABLE with sun and daytime heating. Human triggered wet sluffs will be probable and natural avalanche activity possible on steep, sunny slopes and low elevation slopes of all aspects. Get off of and out from under steep sunny slopes once the day heats up. There are pockets of MODERATE danger on mid and upper elevation slopes with cold, dry snow, where sluffs and foot deep soft slabs can be triggered.

The blitz is finally over. In the past two weeks, the Ogden and Provo mountains received around 50”, while the Cottonwoods have been choked with over 150” of snow, with 80 to 100 inches falling along the Park City ridgeline. And this wasn’t just any old snow – but quintessential Utah powder. Today, sun and rapidly warming temperatures will quickly turn the widespread perfect powder damp on all but mid and upper elevation northerly facing slopes. So head out early today! Under partly cloudy skies, temperatures are in the 15 to 20 degree range this morning, and the winds are very light, less than 10 mph from the northwest.

There was no avalanche activity reported from Ogden or Provo area mountains yesterday. However, there were multiple close calls in the Cottonwoods yesterday, all with happy endings. The avalanche activity seemed centered in Big Cottonwood Canyon - easily triggered new snow sluffs and soft slabs were the norm, with a small natural sluff cycle occurring mid morning. Most of the triggered slabs were less than a foot deep, up to 100’ wide, some were running over 500 vertical feet. However, 4 people were partially buried near the base of the east couloir of Kessler (below Catcher’s Mitt) when a natural came down, estimated to be 2 to 4' deep by 200' wide. Another party on Kessler triggered 150' wide by 1-2 ft deep slide on up track, well east of the Lawnmower. (Photos posted later this morning.) Most of this activity occurred during a time when temperatures in Big Cottonwood jumped almost 15 degrees, and the clouds had thinned, allowing some heating from the sun.

The heat is on! High pressure is building in, and this morning’s partly cloudy skies should clear by noon, with temperatures warming into the upper 20’s at 10,000’ and the upper 30’s at 8,000’. The northerly winds will remain very light today, averaging less than 15 mph. Significant warming will occur Monday and Tuesday as the ridge strengthens over Utah, with 10,000’ temperatures warming into the mid 30s. Two warmer storm systems are forecast to bring snow to the mountains around Wednesday, and again next Friday.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides didn’t get out on Saturday, and today they will be in American Fork and the Session. Check their operations planning page is here.

Our web site is now formatted for iPhone. You can also download a free iPhone application from Canyon Sports to display the Bottom Line. Search for Utah Avalanche on the Apple's iPhone Apps page or in iTunes.

Beacon training parks are up and running! There is one at Snowbasin, one on the Park City side at the top of Canyon’s gondola toward the Tombstone lift, one in Little Cottonwood near the Snowbird parking structure on the bypass road, and in Big Cottonwood a training park is at the west end of Solitude's lower parking lot.

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UDOT highway avalanche control work info can be found by calling (801) 975-4838. Our statewide toll free line is 1-888-999-4019 (early morning, option 8).

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Your snow and avalanche observations can save someone’s life. Please let us know what you're seeing by leaving a message at (801) 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140, or email us at uac@utahavalanchecenter.org. (Fax 801-524-6301).

The information in this advisory is from the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

I will update this advisory by 7:30 tomorrow morning.