Salt Lake Avalanche Advisory

Forecaster: Bruce Tremper

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center have canceled this weekends apres ski fundraiser at Snowbird due to lack of advanced ticket sales. We will plan something more enticing next season.

BOTTOM LINE

Danger by aspect and elevation on slopes approaching 35° or steeper.
(click HERE for tomorrow's danger rating)


Danger Rose Tutorial

We have pockets of a CONSIDERABLE danger interspersed over a MODERATE danger. While avalanches are getting harder to trigger, consequences remain very serious. The most likely places to trigger an avalanche will be slopes approaching 35 degrees and steeper on slopes that face the north and east quadrants of the compass, mostly in areas with a snowpack depth less than 3-4 feet.

CURRENT CONDITIONS

Backcountry riding conditions remain quite good on about 6 inches of fast, creamy powder mixed with graupel. Skiers and boarders can have a great time on slopes less steep than 30 degrees, so there's absolutely no reason to risk steeper slopes right now. There is some wind damage at upper elevations.

RECENT ACTIVITY

For the first day in about two weeks, we did not hear about any human triggered avalanches in the backcountry. It's kind of like being a parent, when your kids are finally being quiet; it's certainly a relief but you can't help to be suspicious.

Ogden: On Cutler Ridge (east side of Ben Lomond Peak) Tuesday and Wednesday, there were several natural and at least a couple human triggered avalanches at low elevations, 6k - 7k feet, about a foot deep. These avalanches presumably ran on buried surface hoar.

For more details, see Current Conditions.

THREAT #1
WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 24 hours.

Our old nemisis, the deep slabs, were quiet yesterday but it's best to let sleeping dragons lie. Personally, I'm still sticking to slopes less than 30 degrees in steepness. I prefer to let volunteer stability testers bet with their lives on steeper terrain, and there never seems to be a lack of stability testers.

We're back to our familiar pattern for this winter where avalanches are stubborn and isolated, but if you do wake the dragon, it will be the biggest, baddest beast you've every tangled with - and you're not likely to win. This game of Russian Roulette features a pistol with perhaps 20 chambers and one chamber loaded with a magnum hollow point. You'll find these sleeping monsters on slopes approaching 35 degrees and steeper in shallow snowpack areas.

THREAT #2
WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 48 hours.

We don't expect much new snow today and through the weekend, but you still may find some localized areas of wind slabs along the upper elevation ridges. As always, avoid steep slopes with recent wind deposits.

MOUNTAIN WEATHER

The weather pattern for most of the winter continues with a series of storms crossing California and tracking through southern Utah and Arizona. We will get a few pulses of moisture that these storms feel benevolent to fling northward. Unfortunately, none of them look like they will involve much snow. We will be lucky to squeeze 4 inches out of it through the weekend.

Ridge top winds will remain from the south and remain light. Ridge top temperatures have warmed up into the mid 20's and the daytime highs will climb to near freezing. Skies will be mostly cloudy but the moth-eaten moisture will give us several breaks.

The extended forecast calls for more of the same.

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

Please contact Alta Central (801-742-2033) if you trigger a large avalanche in the backcountry, especially if you are adjacent to a ski area, to alert them to the slide and whether anyone is missing or not. Rescue teams can be exposed to significant hazard when responding to avalanches, and do not want to do so when unneeded. Thanks.

Discount Lift tickets: Ski Utah, Backcountry.com, Alta, Deer Valley, Park City, The Canyons, Wolf Mountain, Snowbasin, Beaver Mountain, Brighton, Sundance, and Solitude have donated a limited number of tickets for sale at discounted prices.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides flight plan.

Dawn Patrol Forecast Hotline, updated by 05:30:888-999-4019 option 8.

Daily observations are frequently posted by 10 pm each evening.

Free UAC iPhone app from Canyon Sports.

Subscribe to the daily avalanche advisory e-mail click HERE.

UDOT canyon closures UDOT at (801) 975-4838

We appreciate all your avalanche and snow observations. You can also call us at 801-524-5304 or 800-662-4140, or email to uac@utahavalanchecenter.org

Donate to your favorite non-profit – The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center. The UAC depends on contributions from users like you to support our work.

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.

Evelyn will update this forecast tomorrow morning. Thanks for calling.

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.

This advisory provided by the USDA Forest Service, in partnership with:

The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Division of State Parks and Recreation, Utah Division of Emergency Management, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake Unified Fire Authority and the friends of the La Sal Avalanche Center. See our Sponsors Page for a complete list.