Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: State-wide Area Mountains Issued by Drew Hardesty for Friday - September 18, 2015 - 12:16pm
bottom line

We won't be issuing advisories or danger ratings for awhile, but we may update this page or provide updates through our social media (catch us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) as conditions warrant.




special announcement

A huge round of Thanks to everyone who came out for the 22nd Annual Black Diamond Fall Fundraiser party last week (early eve photo below). We couldn't do it without the amazing support of Black Diamond Equipment, Uinta Brewing Company, the tireless efforts of a small army of volunteers, our partner-in-crime the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, and most of all - you. Through your support and donations, we're able to help Keep People on Top of the Greatest Snow on Earth instead of being buried beneath it. So, Thanks.


We're only just getting started. Check out our Events page for some upcoming films in October and our 8th Annual Utah Snow and Avalanche Workshop on Saturday October 31.

current conditions

Overnight lows in the upper 20s and low 30s now in the wake of the first official storm of the season. 2-4" up high - We'll take it.

In the meantime, here are some things to get prepped for the season -

  1. Get your kit together. Get new batteries for your beacon. Consider an avalanche airbag. Put together your repair and first aid kits.
  2. Mountain resorts. For skiers/split-boarders, snowshoers - Know the Uphill Policies of the Mountain Resorts. It's also critical to TREAT THE TERRAIN IN THE PRE-SEASON MOUNTAIN RESORTS AS BACKCOUNTRY TERRAIN. We often have early season avalanche accidents and involvements in the early-season terrain of the unopened resorts.
  3. Avalanche Education. Check out the wide array of avalanche education for the winter here. Ours is continuing to be updated in the next few days, but Save the Date for our Utah Avalanche Center 101 classes. We also plan on continuing our series of stand-alone Companion Rescue Workshops this winter as well.
  • December 10&12 (SLC), January 7&9 (Ogden), January 14&16 (Sled/Uintas), January 21&23 (Women's/SLC)

  • January 28&30 (SLC), Februrary 4&6 (SLC), February 11&13 (Sled/Uintas), February 18&20 (Women's/Ogden)

  • February 25&27 (SLC)

weather

Everybody likes to talk about the weather, but no one ever seems to do anything about it.

Crisp, cooler temps will give way to a warming trend with mountain temps nosing into the mid-to-upper 50s (perhaps warmer) by late weekend. Winds will be light from the west. Moisture surging in from Baja will move overhead late Tuesday into Wednesday with perhaps a half-inch or so of water, though I expect most if not all will fall as rain. Beyond that, the next main feature to affect northern Utah is a Pacific storm churning off the northwest will move inland next Friday.

The good-old National Weather Service forecast is, hands-down, the best forecast you can find. For instance, HERE is one for Alta and you can go to the map and click on any region of Utah to create a customized forecast for that 1-mile square area. While you're on the page, you can click on the satellite loop, the radar loop or-check their one-stop-shop snow-page found here.

For those more inclined, check out the University of Utah Department of Meteorology products such as the Time-Height plots. (Time is on the horizontal axis and runs from right to left and the height of the atmosphere is on the vertical axis.)

For other weather models, I like the Golden Gate weather maps - for simplicity, look at the 700mb GFS model (subtract 6 - soon to be 7 with daylight savings - hours for UTC for the most recent model run.) In other words, in the morning, choose the 06Z model run. You'll see approaching storms, ridges of high pressure, winds, and precipitation. Good luck!

general announcements

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory 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.

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 and Park City – Alta Central (801-742-2033), Canyons Resort Dispatch (435-615-3322)

Snowbasin Resort Dispatch (801-620-1017), Powder Mountain Dispatch (801-745-3772 x 123).

Sundance Dispatch (801-223-4150)

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.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides 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 your responsibility to know the resort policy on uphill travel.  You can see the uphill travel policy for each resort here. IMPORTANT: Before skinning or hiking at a resort under new snow conditions, check in with Ski Patrol.  Resorts can restrict or cut off access if incompatible with control and grooming operations.

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 exist.