In partnership with: The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Forecast Center, Utah Department of
Public Safety Division of Comprehensive Emergency Management, Salt Lake County,
and Utah State Parks
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Good Morning. This is Ethan Greene with the
Current Conditions:
Overnight temperatures
dropped to near zero along the upper ridgelines and into negative numbers in
the mountain valleys. The winds have
been from the west and northwest in the 10 mph range. Along the highest ridgelines the winds have
been in the 20 mph range with some gusts over 30 mph. Santa brought us all a white Christmas with
about a half inch of new snow in most locations and 3 to 6 inches in the
The backcountry snow surface
is a mix of surface hoar and near-surface facets on top of wind slabs or old
faceted snow. Many areas remain punchy,
with a firm upper layer that you can break through. Areas below 8,000 generally have a thin
snowpack, which makes for easy traveling.
Avalanche Conditions:
It has been a week since our
last major snow event, but the snowpack is taking its own sweet time adjusting
to the load. To complicate things,
southeast winds on Monday built wind drifts in odd places, and last night the
westerly winds were also strong enough to transport snow.
We continue to receive
reports of human triggered avalanches from the backcountry. Yesterday an avalanche was triggered on the
northeast side of
To sum things up there are
several different kinds of avalanche dragons to look for today. The first is a deep instability due to buried
faceted snow. Keep a lookout for this
dragon on northwest though east aspects that are steeper than about 35
degrees. There are also dragons lurking
in wind drifts built by southeast winds on Monday. And lastly there are wind drifts built by
west and northwest winds overnight.
Yesterday the snow surface was covered with hoar frost or surface hoar. Wind drifts sitting on this layer will be
quite sensitive today. We are beginning
to see repeater slides. Wind drifts in
paths that avalanched last week should be approached with caution today.
Bottom Line (SLC,
The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE today on
northwest, north, northeast, and east facing slopes 35 degrees or steeper and
on steep slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. On southerly facing slopes and low angle
slopes the avalanche danger is generally LOW.
Mountain Weather:
A weak short wave trough is
moving through northern
General Information:
Wasa
The Friends of the
To report backcountry snow
and avalanche conditions, especially if you observe or trigger an avalanche,
call (801) 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140, or email to [email protected] or fax to
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.
Bruce Tremper will update this advisory by
Thanks for calling!
________________________________________________________________________
National
Weather Service - Salt Lake City - Snow.
For an explanation of
avalanche danger ratings: