Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Provo Area Mountains Issued by Drew Hardesty for Sunday - February 4, 2018 - 7:23am
bottom line

Most terrain has a LOW avalanche danger. Isolated areas of MODERATE danger, however, exist on northwest to east facing slopes above about 9000'. In this terrain, human triggered avalanches 1-3' deep are possible. Additionally, shallow pockets of soft and hard wind slab are littered across the landscape, but most problematic in high consequence terrain. Lastly, damp push-alanches are possible in steep low to mid-elevation sheltered slopes that have remained warm for the past several days.
special announcement

The latest UAC podcast - "Recreating Like a Pro - A Conversation with IFMGA guide Anna Keeling" is live. This podcast will be ideal for anyone looking to pick up some tips and tricks from a professional mountain guide for recreating in the winter backcountry environment.
current conditions

Skies are mostly cloudy. Mountain temps are in the mid to upper 30s. Winds are westerly, blowing 15mph with gusts to 25. 11,000' winds are blowing 35-45mph. Snow totals are 20-30" in the high country but barely enough coverage on the southerly aspects for much recreation.

Although Salt Lake-centric, be sure to read our latest Week in Review for avalanche activity and significant mountain weather events from this past week.
recent activity

None. Recent observations of snow and weather below.

01/30/2018 Observation: Mary Ellen Salt Lake region B
01/29/2018 Observation: Sundance backcountry Provo region Evelyn
01/28/2018 Observation: Cascade Ridge line Provo region Tyler Falk
01/24/2018 Observation: UFO Bowls Provo region Hardesty
Avalanche Problem 1
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 12 hours
description

I was able to collapse and crack out a small test slope Friday on a north facing piece of terrain at 9200'. It cracked out about 1' deep and 20' across. It wasn't particularly representative of most of our terrain and yet there it was: poor structure, additional wind loading, trigger. Collapse. The moderate to strong winds will add just a bit of extra stress to areas of poor structure. Our lingering persistent slab avalanche problem exists at elevations 9000' and above, on slopes facing northwest through east (with a particular emphasis on north through northeast.) Thinner snowpack areas are particularly suspect.
weather

We should start to see some light precipitation this early evening under the northwest flow. An initial rain/snow line may start as high as 8000', then drop to the valleys by Tuesday. Decent upper level support adds what it can to a generally weak system, but trace-2" seems reasonable with higher confidence for amounts north of I-80. Temps for today will be in the upper twenties along the upper ridgelines with northwest winds continuing to blow 30-35mph...increasing to 40mph tonight and tomrrow.
general announcements

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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 occur.