Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Salt Lake Area Mountains Issued by Mark Staples for Saturday - April 15, 2017 - 5:11am
bottom line

The snowpack is frozen solid this morning and the avalanche danger is LOW.
special announcement

Great news… so far there haven’t been any avalanche fatalities in Utah this winter! It has been 26 years since we’ve had a fatality-free winter. Let’s keep it that way and stay safe this spring. Our goal is for everyone to enjoy the Greatest Snow on Earth and come home safe every day.

The final regular advisory will be this Sunday, April 16. For the rest of the month we'll issue Friday updates for the central Wasatch Mountains and updates any time there is measurable snowfall; however, we will discontinue issuing avalanche danger ratings after Sunday.

Although we will be shutting down regular operations, we will continue to post observations through the end of the month as we receive them, so please do continue to send them to us. You can check the latest observations here. We also follow avalanche-related activity on Instagram - be sure to tag your photos with #utavy .
current conditions

It's a cold morning for this time of year with temperatures in the upper teens and low 20's F. Skies are clear, and light westerly winds are blowing 5-10 mph.

Week in Review [Detailed Version]

A storm system entered the region this past weekend, with warm temperatures and a high rain/snow line on Saturday April 8th.

A cold front with an ample moisture supply late Saturday night and well into the day on Sunday provided nearly 18-24" in the Cottonwoods and Ogden mountains, with 8-15" along the Park City ridgeline. The Provo mountains recorded 3-6". Limited avalanche activity was reported with this storm, with a few slides breaking at a graupel interface of the old snow surface, or within a density inversion within the storm snow.

Monday brought clearing skies, but cool temperatures kept wet activity to a minimum.

A short-duration wind event on Tuesday morning created pockets of wind drifts in isolated terrain, and a wind slab avalanche was triggered by a party of skiers hiking uphill at Snowbird Ski Resort. Another small wind drift was triggered in White Pine in Little Cottonwood canyon.

Warming temperatures highlighted Wednesday and Thursday, but wet activity was minimal.

A dry cold front entered the region Thursday evening, providing a solid refreeze of the snowpack by Friday morning.
recent activity

No avalanches were reported yesterday.
Avalanche Problem 1
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

Cold air temperatures and clear skies gave the snowpack a solid refreeze last night. Because the snowpack has gone through melt-freeze cycles all week and today will remain cool, there should be minimal wet snow avalanche activity. Falling on hard, icy snow may be more of a danger than avalanches today.

The only other thing to look for are old wind slabs formed Tuesday during a period of strong S winds.

Watch the video below about things to watch for this spring.
weather

Today will be a beautiful sunny day with relatively cool temperatures. Temperatures at 9000 feet will struggle to break into the 40's F. Winds will remain light blowing 5-10 mph from the W and NW.
general announcements

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please help us out by submitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can also call us at 801-524-5304, email by clicking HERE, or include #utavy in your tweet or Instagram.

To get help in an emergency (to request a rescue) in the Wasatch, call 911. Be prepared to give your GPS coordinates or the run name. Dispatchers have a copy of the Wasatch Backcountry Ski map.

Backcountry Emergencies. It outlines your step-by-step method in the event of a winter backcountry incident.

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry, but no one is hurt and you do not need assistance, please notify the nearest ski area dispatch to avoid a needless response by rescue teams. Thanks.

EMAIL ADVISORY If you would like to get the daily advisory by email you will need to subscribe here.

DAWN PATROL Hotline updated daily by 5-530am - 888-999-4019 option 8.

TWITTER Updates for your mobile phone - DETAILS

UDOT canyon closures: LINK TO UDOT, or on Twitter, follow @UDOTavy, @CanyonAlerts or @AltaCentral

Utah Avalanche Center mobile app - Get your advisory on your iPhone along with great navigation and rescue tools.

Powderbird Helicopter Skiing - Blog/itinerary for the day

Lost or Found something in the backcountry? - http://nolofo.com/

Ski Utah mobile snow updates

To those skinning uphill at resorts: it is critical to know the resort policy on uphill travel. You can see the uphill travel policy for each resort here.

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you shop from Backcountry.com or REI: Click this link for Backcountry.com or this link to REI, shop, and they will donate a percent of your purchase price to the UAC. Both offer free shipping (with some conditions) so this costs you nothing!

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you buy or sell on ebay - set the Utah Avalanche Center as a favorite non-profit in your ebay account here and click on ebay gives when you buy or sell. You can choose to have your seller fees donated to the UAC, which doesn't cost you a penny.

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