Salt Lake Avalanche Advisory

Forecaster: Bruce Tremper

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center will be teaching 1 evening/1 field day introductory and advanced avalanche classes this winter beginning Thursday, Dec 16th. Details on our Education Page.

BOTTOM LINE

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


Danger Rose Tutorial

Avalanche danger will rise rapidly from Level 1 (Low) to Level 2 (Moderate) on any slope approaching 35 degrees or steeper with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. Danger will likely rise to Level 3 (Considerable) by Saturday with another, stronger storm.

CURRENT CONDITIONS

We will have rapidly changing conditions today with the arrival of snow and strong wind by mid day. An inch of snow fell overnight and winds are still reasonable with temperatures in the mid 20’s. Winds will pick up to 40, gusting to 60 by mid day with about 6 inches of snow today and perhaps 8 more tonight.

RECENT ACTIVITY

No activity reported from the backcountry yesterday.

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

Rapidly rising danger from strong wind combined with snow today. Most human triggered avalanches involve wind deposited snow, so you need to train your avalanche eyeballs to see it and avoid it. Wind slabs, as we call them, look smooth and rounded and they usually feel “slabby”, meaning strong on top with weaker snow underneath. They often sound hollow like a drum. If you find one today you should definitely avoid it on slopes approaching 35 degrees or steeper. You will find them mostly at upper elevation, wind exposed terrain and mostly on east and north facing slopes and side-loaded into other slopes as well. The wind slabs you will find today and through the weekend will be trickier than most because warm temperatures and high humidity will create harder, denser slabs that pack a punch. Be extra cautious with these.

MOUNTAIN WEATHER

We expect about 6-8 inches of relatively dense snow today combined with strong winds blowing 40, gusting to 60 along the ridges from the southwest in the morning, turning westerly by mid day. Temperatures will be warm, just below freezing, which will create dense wind slabs. Peak wind and snow will likely arrive mid day through the afternoon. We should get more snow overnight and will likely see a foot of new snow by Saturday morning. We have a bit of a break late tonight with another, stronger pulse arriving on Saturday by mid day and continuing overnight with more snow and even stronger winds, again from the west. We should see clearing skies by Sunday with a ridge building in for Monday through Wednesday.

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 at discounted prices.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides flight plan.

Dawn Patrol Forecast Hotline, updated by 05:30: 888-999-4019 option 8. Information also automatically appears at the top of the left menu bar on all our web pages regardless of time of day.

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

Please take the opportunity to contribute in the creation of your 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 to uac@utahavalanchecenter.org

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.