UDOT will be conducting artillery firing in LCC midday today, and there is a Backcountry Closure in effect for all terrain north of the road in Little Cottonwood Canyon from closure gateB below Lisa Falls through gateD below Superior through about noon today.

Early starts and finishes are the way to avoid wet slab and wet sluff avalanches. The early morning LOW danger for wet slides will rise to MODERATE as the snow heats up. Continuously monitor the snowpack heating – conditions can change fast, in less than an hour- if the winds die, the clouds thin and the sun comes out or you enter wind sheltered terrain. Wet slides have dense, cement like debris, hard to dig through.

There continues to be a MODERATE danger on slopes facing west through north through southeast for triggering a slab avalanche 1 to 4 feet deep, breaking on a buried faceted weak layer. Most wide spread above about 8,000’.

Under partly cloudy skies and strong southerly winds, it is another warm morning. Temperatures are a few degrees below freezing along most of the higher ridges, but have remained in the mid 30s to low 40s in the 7 to 9,000 foot terrain. The southerly winds are averaging 20 to 30, with gusts in the 40s, with the higher peaks averaging to 45 mph, with gusts in the 70s.

Non Freezing temperatures, Ben Lomond Peak, approx 8,000'.

With the cooling winds, there should be a good surface refreeze on most mid and upper elevation slopes. However, the icy, but supportable crusts will be slow to soften today. There is just a smattering of soft snow left on upper elevation northerly facing slopes.

The only reported avalanche was a natural shallow wet slide in the Canyons sidecountry yesterday afternoon, about 10” deep by 35’ wide, entraining snow as it ran down slope. An Ogden area observation from yesterday here.

Storms systems will continue to track to the north, keeping Utah under a warm, southwesterly flow. Skies will be partly cloudy today, with some breaks allowing for sun. The southerly winds will be strongest this morning, with average speeds in the 20 to 30 mph range, with gusts to 50, and the highest peaks gusting into the 70s. Speeds will gradually decrease into the afternoon, though the high ridges will still gust into 50s. Temperatures will warm into the mid 40s at 8,000’ and to around 30 at 10,000’. There will be a break in the winds on Wednesday, before they increase once again on Thursday as another storm passes to the north.