Forecast: Provo Area Mountains - Utah Avalanche Center

Forecast for the Provo Area Mountains

Issued by Drew Hardesty on
Thursday morning, January 28, 2021

IT IS DANGEROUS IN THE BACKCOUNTRY.

A CONSIDERABLE DANGER exists on many freshly wind loaded slopes. LARGE natural avalanches are possible; human triggered avalanches are likely.

Some of these avalanches may be triggered at a distance...and some of these may step down into older weak layers, leading to a larger and more destructive avalanche.

THOSE WITHOUT EXTENSIVE AVALANCHE EDUCATION SHOULD AVOID STEEP TERRAIN TODAY.

Low

Moderate

Considerable

High

Extreme

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Special Avalanche Bulletin

SPECIAL AVALANCHE BULLETIN

ISSUED

What

THE AVALANCHE DANGER IS CONSIDERABLE TO HIGH IN MANY AREAS.

When

IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM MST THIS MORNING TO 6 AM MST FRIDAY

Where

FOR THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN UTAH INCLUDING THE WASATCH RANGE...BEAR RIVER RANGE...UINTA MOUNTAINS...

Impacts

DANGEROUS AVALANCHE CONDITIONS EXIST. NATURAL AND HUMAN TRIGGERED AVALANCHES ARE EXPECTED. AVOID BEING ON OR BENEATH STEEP TERRAIN.

Special Announcements

SPECIAL NOTE: HALF OF ALL SKIER/SNOWBOARDER FATALITIES SINCE 99/00 HAVE OCCURRED WITH PEOPLE GOING OUT OF BOUNDS AT A SKI AREA.

Do you have the essential avalanche rescue gear (transceiver, probe, and shovel) and do you know how to use them? Watch this video to see how the three pieces of equipment work together.

Weather and Snow

Snowfall continues in the mountains.

With a 2" overnight, storm totals are 6-10" in the Provo mountains.

Snow conditions are thick and cakey where they haven't been either etched, eroded, or deposited into thick wind slabs.

Temperatures, as foretold, have risen during the storm and winds are strong along the higher elevations.

We'll see continued light snowfall today with continued strong southwest winds. Temps will be in the upper 20s.

The next storm arrives later Friday into Saturday.

Mark and Trent found a few gusts up near Bountiful Peak yesterday.

Recent Avalanches

We didn't hear of any avalanche activity in the Provo mountains but I am sure there were natural avalanches in steep terrain. There were numerous natural and human triggered slides elsewhere across the range, some ripping out to the ground.

Special Public Announcement: IF you trigger an avalanche near one of the resorts, please call it in to the ski patrol so they don't have to put themselves in harms way to conduct a meaningless rescue.

As always, you can find all observations and recent avalanches HERE.

Type

Location

Likelihood

Size

Description

A sea of wind slabs across the landscape. Some will be sensitive, some will be stubborn. Some have and will continue to run naturally. Drifts may be 2-4' thick and well off the ridgelines. Due to the various southerly directions and speeds, along with terrain channeling and eddying, drifts will be on all aspects and elevations.

Guide/educator Chris Brown's pic of sensitive wind slabs yesterday in Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Avalanche pro Sean Zimmerman Wall's observation and photo below well describe the nature of the blowing snow.

Adding insult to injury is the upside down nature of the storm snow as it is coming in heavy and sitting on lower density snow from the previous days.

Your mindset and approach should be to avoid all steep wind drifted terrain today.

Type

Location

Likelihood

Size

Description

Our buried weak layers are only being stressed further by the wind transported snow.

The two most problematic weak layers are described below -

- A layer of faceted snow and various patches of surface hoar buried last Friday, now 12-18" deep. Natural and human triggered avalanches in this layering have occurred in the past several days.

- The old dragons in the basement - facets and depth hoar from the early low tide conditions at and near the base of the snowpack, now buried 2-4' deep. Human triggered avalanches in this layering have occurred in the past several days.

These layers have shown their cards in other parts of the range.

Additional Information

Find the podcast HERE....or find the Utah Avalanche Center podcast wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

General Announcements

Please visit this website with information about Responsible Winter Recreation by the Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE GENERAL INFO AND FAQ

This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done. This forecast is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This forecast describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

Observations and Avalanches

Backcountry Emergency Procedures