Alta is closed to uphill traffic today.

We have stopped issuing regular avalanche advisories for the 2016/2017 season. For the rest of the month we will issue Friday updates for the central Wasatch Mountains and updates any time there is measurable snowfall; however, we have discontinued issuing avalanche danger ratings altogether.

As of 6 am: Overnight snow totals are 2-4" in the Cottonwoods, with Little Cottonwood on the higher end. West/northwest winds which have been sustained for the past 24 hours, gusting in the 30's - 50's mph, have diminished since 3 am, and are now gusting into the teens and low 20's mph out of the west/northwest.

Temperatures are more appropriate for late January than late April, with mountain locations ranging through the teens.

Approximate storm totals this past week are 18-40" with over 4" of water, with Little Cottonwood Canyon on the higher end of snow and water totals.

Week in Review

Perhaps Ullr is thanking us for our perseverance the past several seasons as the last week of April delivered Winter 2.0:

Friday April 21 featured 8" of snow in the Cottonwoods with minor sluffing and small, wet-loose activity reported.

Saturday brought an extended period of east winds and cool temperatures with several skier-triggered slides from fresh wind drifts in the upper elevations.

Sunday included wet loose activity as the sun warmed the snow surface.

Snowfall began on Monday and continued well into Tuesday. Storm totals at Alta totaled 26" with 2.6" of water. Snowfall rates of 3-4" per hour were observed in upper Little Cottonwood Canyon, generating an early-morning natural cycle with several natural as well as skier-triggered avalanches running at the new snow/old snow interface.

As is often the case in the Spring, by Wednesday conditions rapidly settled out with only minor wet loose activity reported.

Snowfall began overnight Wednesday into Thursday, with 10" of snow in LCC, and about half that amount in BCC and the Park City ridgeline. This storm featured strong northwest winds that created sensitive wind slabs in the mid and upper elevations, with

Snow depths are up to 150" in upper Little Cottonwood and 136" in upper Big Cottonwood (elevations 9600') . The Ogden mountains still boast 90"-105" (8000' elevation sites) and the Provo mountains have 100" at 8800' elevation. The Alta Guard broke 500" during Tuesday's storm for the 18th time since 1944 and the first time since 2010/2011. Alta Guard monthly snowfall can be found here.

For more information:

• Weather stations and wind sites click HERE.
• Weather forecast and discussion click HERE.
• NOAA snow and avalanche page click HERE.

Widespread skier-triggered activity was reported from Little Cottonwood Canyon on Thursday. These slides involved fresh wind drifts at the mid and upper elevations, breaking out 8-12" deep, failing at either a layer of graupel or a lower-density layer within the storm snow. Most of these were smaller pockets, but a large wind slab avalanche was unintentionally triggered midday on southeast facing Cardiff Bowl, propagating 1000-1500'. Although other reported slides were smaller, at least one report involved a slide that took out a skin track with a skier being carried s short distance.

Refer place names to Wasatch Backcountry Skiing map.

Full list of reported avalanches HERE

Other observations HERE.

Although we will be shutting down regular operations, we will continue to post recent avalanche activity and observations, 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 .

At least one more day of winter! Mountain temperatures today will rise into the 20's F and winds will be out of the north/northwest. Winds may gust into the 20's and 30's mph at the mid elevations, with stronger gusts at 11,000' Expected snowfall during the day today is 4-8". Winds begin to turn northerly later today which should begin to shut off snowfall overnight.

Snow showers may continue overnight and into early Saturday morning, with winds veering to the northeast. Temperatures will remain cool, but with increasing sun Saturday afternoon.