AN AVALANCHE WARNING CONTINUES FOR THE FOOTHILLS AND MOUNTAINS OF UTAH. TWO TO FOUR FEET OF STORM SNOW HAS LED TO DANGEROUS AVALANCHE CONDITIONS. THOSE WITHOUT AVALANCHE SKILL AND TRAINING SHOULD AVOID BEING ON OR BENEATH STEEP MOUNTAIN SLOPES.

The 1st annual 12 hours at Snowbird was an outstanding success and all the forecasters at the UAC along with our nonprofit Friends organization want to thank everyone who made this event possible. In particular, many thanks to our great partner and host Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort. The entire support staff matches a mountain in a class by itself and we couldn’t have pulled this off without all the amazing support! In addition, huge thanks to all the volunteers who helped keep things in order, allowing the event to run with flawless precision. And finally, the event was such a triumph because of all of the remarkable athletes who endured a sleepless night, riding to the light of Friday’s big, bright, beautiful moon, helping to raise over $20,000 for the Utah Avalanche Center. You all deserve a huge high five…. and a good night’s sleep!

Join us for the Backcountry 101 Avalanche class on February 26 and 28. We'll do an evening lecture and a field day learning the basics about safe travel techniques, the magic of snow, rescue, and decision making in complicated conditions. In mid March, SheJumps will team up with the Friends for one final Women’s Backcountry 101 - details to come.

The AVALANCHE WARNING CONTINUES. The danger sits at CONSIDERABLE (L3). Dangerous human triggered avalanches up to 3-4' deep are likely, particularly at the mid and upper elevation north thorugh southeast facing slopes. MOST AVALANCHE ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES OCCUR ON DAYS LIKE TODAY. It's where the lines of desire and danger intersect to create the accident. Give it a few more days before entering steeper terrain.

Not bad, eh? With another 5-9" overnight in the central Wasatch, storm totals now sit at 35-40" in the Cottonwoods, 30" in Provo, and 20-25" in the Park City and Ogden area mountains. Don't forget this sits above Wednesday night's dust, graupel, and greased lightning. Winds are light from the west - generally less than 15mph and temps are in the single digits up high, the mid-teens at the mid-elevations. Probably have to say that conditions are phenomenal.

We had at least two natural cycles yesterday - one in the wee early hours, another roughly 10am - mostly in the storm snow - but we may find a couple that stepped down into the older snow today...

· A couple east facing slopes above Pinecrest above Emigration canyon spilled sizeable amounts of debris onto the road - this reportedly not having run since the 1980s.

· In the foothills above Layton, a hiker watched a sizeable natural fill a steep gulley at roughly 5500’.

· In the Grandview Peak area above Salt Lake/Bountiful, either a natural occurred or snowmobilers remotely triggered a 2.5’ deep and 150’ wide soft slab on a steep north facing slope at 8500’.

· In the Brighton backcountry off the back of Clayton Peak, a skier unintentionally triggered a 12-18” soft slab 90’ wide. This on a steep northeast facing slope at 10,000’, just above the Clayton/10,420’ ‘pass’.

· And – perhaps the bellwether for continued activity into today – an avalanche class from a safe area – cracked and collapsed a slope near No-Name bowl off the Park City ridgeline 3’ deep and 200’ wide. Due to the low – 30s slope angle it only moved slightly, but the group dropped 2” with the collapse failure. This on a northwest facing slope at 9000’.

We'll have mostly cloudy skies, temps in the low teens, and light west to southwest winds. A storm off the coast is likely dive way south, putting us in the dreaded split-flow pattern. The northern UT/ID border area should see some snow mid-late week. The weather models are waffling a bit, but perhaps another storm lines up for Friday into the weekend.

Skis found - Mt Aire trailhead (Lambs Canyon exit). Call to ID 801-524-5304.

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.