Ogden Avalanche Advisory

Forecaster: Evelyn Lees

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

There are just a few lift tickets left - to Sundance, Wolf Mountain and Brianhead ski resorts – 100% of the sale of these donated tickets goes to support the Utah Avalanche Center.

There are still a few spots left in the Advanced Avalanche Skills class taught by Bruce Tremper this coming Thursday night and Saturday. Details at utahavalanchecenter.org/education.

BOTTOM LINE

Danger by aspect and elevation on slopes approaching 35° or steeper.
(click HERE for tomorrow's danger rating)


Danger Rose Tutorial

There pockets of Level 2 (Moderate) on any steep mid or upper elevation slope with recent drifts of windblown snow. These drifts will be dense and stubborn, and most common on northeast, east and southeast facing slopes. There are isolated places where a person or a new snow slide could trigger a deeper avalanche.

CURRENT CONDITIONS

Light snow is falling in the mountains, and temperatures range from the teens to single digits from 9 to 11,000’. Snow totals from the past 30 hours are in the 1 to 6 inch range in the Salt Lake and Park City mountains, with just a trace to the north and south. Yesterday’s headline northwesterly winds have decreased, with 10 to 20 mph averages the norm this morning, though the windiest peaks are still averaging 25 mph, with gusts to 40. There is fun turning, riding and snowshoeing on the more sheltered slopes in the dense, graupely snow.

RECENT ACTIVITY

There were at least three shallow, human triggered slides yesterday in the Salt lake mountians. Two were in Days Fork, one on a wind drifted northeast facing slope at 9500', when a slope cut triggered a soft slab failing on NSF that developed earlier in the week. Another 8” deep by 35 foot wide graupel pocket in Big Cottonwood took a skier for a ride, partly because it had the slick ice crust as a bed surface. There were numerous other reports of dense, stubborn, shallow graupel wind drifts that cracked but didn’t move.

THREAT #1
WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 24 hours.

The last 36 hours of moderate to strong, gusty northwesterly winds created lots of dense drifts of snow, both along ridges, but also well off the ridgelines and down into valley bottoms. I expect a repeat of yesterday’s avalanche activity – a few dense, stubborn, soft slabs that have a tendency to break above you and catch you. Many of the ridgelines and steep slopes have less snow and fewer drifts than one would expect, because the graupel rolled off or they are wind scoured. So watch for drifts and graupel pooling in unexpected places, off the ridgelines and on less steep slopes.

THREAT #2
WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 24 hours.

With a decent storm on the way, it’s time to bring those buried faceted weak layers back onto the front burner. There is a wide variety of faceted layers and crusts in the upper layers of the snow pack, on all aspects ‘round the compass. On northerly facing slopes, there are near surface facets that formed during the cold snap earlier this week and those near the January rain crust and the surface hoar.

On south, southeast and southwest facing slopes, a complex multi layered sandwich of crusts and facets was responsible for lots of cracking yesterday, with good observations HERE and HERE.

Today, it is possible for a slide to step down into one of these layers, especially on a wind drifted slope.

MOUNTAIN WEATHER

A strong, northwesterly flow will be over the area today, with gradually increasing winds. Speeds should increase to a steady 15 mph, with gusts to 25, and the high peaks will end up closer to 30 to 40 mph, with gusts to 55. Snow showers will increase this afternoon, though accumulations will only be a trace to a few inches. Temperatures will warm into the mid 20’s at 8,000’ and mid teens at the 9 to 10,000’ level. Snowfall tonight will bring 2 to 4” of snow, graupel and rime. Snowfall Monday will be on a southwest flow, with the highest accumulations expected in the Ogden and Provo area mountains. A period of brief, but intense snowfall is possible with frontal passage Monday night. Lingering instability showers into Tuesday will be limited to areas favored by northwest flow, with high pressure Wednesday through the end of the week.

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

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 – Alta Central (801-742-2033)

Ogden – Snowbasin Patrol Dispatch (801-620-1017)

Provo – Sundance Patrol Dispatch (801-223-4150)

Discount Lift tickets: Ski Utah, Backcountry.com, Alta, Deer Valley, Park City, The Canyons, Wolf Mountain, Snowbasin, Beaver Mountain, Brighton, Sundance, and Solitude have donated a limited number of tickets for sale.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides flight plan.

Dawn Patrol Forecast Hotline, updated by 05:30: 888-999-4019 option 8.

Daily observations are frequently posted by 10 pm each evening.

Subscribe to the daily avalanche advisory e-mail click HERE.

UDOT canyon closures UDOT at (801) 975-4838

You have the opportunity to participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory by submitting avalanche and snow observations. You can also call us at 801-524-5304 or 800-662-4140, or email by clicking HERE

Donate to your favorite non-profit – The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center. The UAC depends on contributions from users like you to support our work.

The information in this advisory is from the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

We will update this forecast tomorrow morning. Thanks for calling.

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 occur.

This advisory provided by the USDA Forest Service, in partnership with:

The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Division of State Parks and Recreation, Utah Division of Emergency Management, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake Unified Fire Authority and the friends of the La Sal Avalanche Center. See our Sponsors Page for a complete list.