Forecast for the Skyline Area Mountains

Brett Kobernik
Issued by Brett Kobernik on
Tuesday morning, January 12, 2021
Human triggered avalanches are still likely on steep upper elevation west north and east facing slopes. They will be more "pockety" in nature meaning they will be smaller and scattered around. If you are experiencing "whoomping" of the snowpack, this is a big red flag for unstable snow.
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Learn how to read the forecast here
Special Announcements
Please join UAC Forecaster Craig Gordon in partnership with Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association on a Zoom presentation as we discuss the current state of our snowpack, what we can expect moving forward, and how we can still ride the Greatest Snow on Earth safely.
Tuesday, Jan 12, 6:30PM to 7:30PM
LINK TO PRESENTATION
Weather and Snow
Current Conditions: Things are mundane. The snowpack is weak and shallow and continues to weaken more. Surprisingly there still is some good snow around for skiing and snowboarding but finding it and getting to it is the challenge. Wind has been calm which is the reason there's any good surface conditions left. Overnight temperatures in the basin and drainage bottoms were in the mid teens. Along the ridges things were a bit warmer with readings in the low to mid 20s.
Mountain Weather: Today looks like a pretty nice day with some high clouds and mild temperatures getting up near 30 along the ridges. Northwest wind will be generally light but increasing slightly this afternoon. There's no storms to get too excited about in our near future. It looks like it's going to get really windy starting Wednesday and lasting through Friday.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
The snowpack continues to weaken as more time goes by without any new snow. The surface has become loose over the last week with small grain near surface facets that have formed. Shallow locations consist entirely of faceted snow. Deeper locations still have a little structure in the middle of the snowpack which will still support skiers and snowboarders but this is deteriorating. I continue to find more and more places where I'm punching all the way through the snowpack on my skis. Collapsing is still occurring in the deeper locations. This tells us human triggered avalanches are still possible.
As time goes on, triggering an avalanche becomes less likely and the snowpack continues to become more and more sugary. This is bad news for when (if?) we see significant snow storms.