Beaver Mountain will be open to the public today! Remember the backside is the backcountry. Buddy up, and everyone venturing beyond the ski area boundary should have beacon, probe, and shovel.
It's 7°F at the 8400' Tony Grove Snotel this morning, and I'm reading 52 inches of total snow. The site picked up 4.2" of SWE in last week's productive storm, now 119% of average SWE for the date. It's -13°F at the UDOT Hwy 89 Logan Summit weather station, and winds are calm.
Looking at the crown of a recent natural avalanche in Miller Bowl, East (from Saturday) on a north facing slope at 8700'. The avalanche failed on a persistent weak layer near the ground.
Expect sunny conditions in the mountains today, with 8500' high temperatures around 21°F, 6 mph west-southwest winds, and wind chills as low as -13°F. It will be partly cloudy tonight with low temperatures rising to around 13°F, 6 to 10 mph south winds, and wind chills around -4°F. It will be partly sunny on Wednesday, with high temperatures around 28°F, and south-southeast wind around 9 mph. Looks like a ridge of high pressure will settle in over the area for at least the next few days, with sun in the mountains and developing haze in the valleys. Heightened avalanche conditions exist on drifted slopes, with dangerous and destructive avalanches failing on a persistent weak layer possible on northerly facing upper elevation slopes.
I'm sorry to report Utah's first avalanche fatality this season. On Sunday 12-15-19, a 45 year old male snowboarder was killed in a backcountry avalanche in Dutch Draw in the Wasatch Mountains above Park City.
Preliminary Accident Report
Natural activity from Saturday became apparent with clearing Sunday. Fairly widespread new snow and wind slab avalanches occurred across the zone and and we could see several large hard slabs releasing on sugary faceted October snow on high north and northeast facing slopes. Generally 3 to 4' deep and a few hundred feet wide, including Miller Bowl, East (above Tony Grove Lake) which took down some trees and ran to the flats. Recent large natural avalanches that failed on the Halloween persistent weak layer were also observed on Providence Peak, Naomi Peak, and Cornice Ridge.
Natural avalanche in "the Nose" on Cornice Ridge.
A large natural avalanche on the north face of Providence Peak.
