Salt Lake Avalanche Advisory

Forecaster: Brett Kobernik

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Want to sharpen your avalanche skills? Join Drew Hardesty & our team of instructors for an evening discussion of advanced avalanche issues on Januray 20 followed by an on-snow workshop January 22. Details at www.utahavalanchecenter.org/education

Also, we still have DISCOUNTED LIFT TICKETS available for Sundance, Brianhead and Wolf Mountain which are generously donated to the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center to help us with our cost of operation. They are distributed by our kind partners at Backcountry.com.

BOTTOM LINE

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


Danger Rose Tutorial

The avalanche danger is Level 2 (MODERATE) in areas with recent deposits of wind drifted snow, mostly in the mid and upper elevation easterly facing slopes. The danger is more pockety in terrain with crossloaded features and remains at Level 1 (LOW) in the mid elevations that are wind sheltered. Cautiously use slope cuts on any drift that looks suspect. Stay out of the bottom of gullies and avalanche paths in the lower elevations in case some wet loose snow avalanches start to occur as temperatures warm.

CURRENT CONDITIONS

A mild storm rolled through early evening last night and added a few inches of snow to the Central Wasatch and Provo area mountains. Little Cottonwood is up to about 4 inches. The Ogden area mountains did a bit better with upwards of 5 to 6 inches and a half inch of water. It’s lightly snowing at some locations still. Temperatures are in the low to mid 20s. Westerly winds increased to moderate speeds during the quick storm and have again decreased along the mid elevation ridges but are still gusting in the 40s along the highest peaks.

RECENT ACTIVITY

No significant avalanche activity was reported from Thursday. There was an observation of some loose snow avalanches cascading off cliffs in the lower Little Cottonwood northerly facing terrain that occurred late in the day.

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

For today, your biggest concern will be any fresh drifts that formed during last night’s snow event. I expect to hear of scattered small soft slabs that people trigger during the day today. These won’t pose much threat of burial but may take you off guard causing injury. I put these still in the manageable category for backcountry travelers with at least moderate avalanche skills. The most likely locations will be along mid and upper elevation easterly facing ridges but always watch little terrain features that may be crossloaded. Also, do us a favor if you trigger one of these by taking a close look at what caused them to fail and SUBMIT AN OBSERVATION. We are closely monitoring some buried weak snow and suspect it will become active sooner or later, your observations help. MORE INFO ON THE POTENTIAL WEAK LAYERING

THREAT #2
WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 10 hours.

A secondary concern for today is if you’re getting into steep terrain in the lower elevations. With mild temperatures the newest snow will become damp and natural loose wet snow avalanches may occur from point releases. These won’t pose much threat unless you’re in a runout zone where the debris could come down from above you and pile up deep enough to cause harm. It doesn’t take much snow to produce a pretty good size debris pile after it travels a distance down steep gullies.

MOUNTAIN WEATHER

We’ll see cloudy to partly cloudy skies with ridgetop temperatures in the mid to upper 20s and getting into the 30s at the lower elevations. Winds will be from the northwest with light to moderate speeds but a bit gusty along the most exposed peaks. Saturday looks similar to today then northwest winds increase on Sunday with the next chance of snow Sunday night which doesn’t look real exciting right now.

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry - especially if you are adjacent to a ski area – please call the following teams 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.

Salt Lake – Alta Central (801-742-2033)

Ogden – Snowbasin Patrol Dispatch (801-620-1017)

Provo – Sundance Patrol Dispatch (801-223-4150)

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.

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.

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

UDOT canyon closures UDOT at (801) 975-4838

You have the opportunity to participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory by submitting avalanche and snow observations. You can also call us at 801-524-5304 or 800-662-4140, or email by clicking HERE

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.

We 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.