Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Salt Lake Area Mountains Issued by Trent Meisenheimer for Thursday - January 18, 2018 - 3:38am
bottom line

The avalanche danger is MODERATE on all mid and upper elevation slopes facing the north half of the compass west through east for triggering a persistent slab avalanche. Lower elevations and southerly facing slopes have a LOW danger. Remember, LOW danger means avalanches can happen in isolated areas or extreme terrain.

If you're headed into the backcountry - or exiting though the gates at the ski area - you must have the proper gear, training, and skilled partners.




special announcement

Tonight - Hear stories about challenging National Geographic assignments from explorer Mike Libecki at Snowbird's Wild Flower Lounge at 6PM.Details here.
current conditions

Increasing, temperatures, southerly winds, and cloudy skies are on tap this morning. Current ridgetop temperatures are in the upper twenties and low thirties, while the lower elevation trail heads hover in the low to mid twenties °F. Winds are westerly with speeds in the 15-20 mph range with the occasional gust into the mid twenties along the upper elevation ridge lines.

Dry cold powder snow still exists on many sheltered shady slopes, while the upper elevations have been effected by the wind. Southerly aspects will be crusted this morning and may or may not soften up due to the increasing southerly winds throughout the day. The best turning and riding conditions continues to be low angle shady slopes.

recent activity

Since January 9th 2018 there has been 64 avalanches reported to the Utah Avalanche Center throughout northern Utah with 8 people being caught, carried, buried and injured. These avalanches have been 2' to 6' feet deep and 100' to 1,000' feet wide running down slope into the flats. One of the more significant avalanches was on Ben Lomond peak that had a crown nearly a mile wide. Topping that was Bunnell's off the Cascade Ridge in Provo with a crown averaging 2'-8' feet deep and 1.5 miles wide running 3250' vertical feet. No new avalanche activity was reported from the backcountry for the first time in 9 days. Here is a list of all reported avalanches in Utah: HERE
Avalanche Problem 1
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 12 hours
description

Weak, faceted snow buried 2-3 feet deep was stressed by snowfall last Wednesday and many persistent slab avalanches have occurred. The odds of triggering one of these slides has gone down, but Tuesday's avalanche on Davenport Hill (found HERE) tells us that the potential remains.

The problem now, is that avalanches are becoming harder and harder to trigger. However, the consequences remain the same. The good news, is that we get to choose the terrain we ride in - Plenty of people are getting out and finding great riding and turning conditions on lower angle slopes. If you do choose to bump up the slope angles think about the consequences and stack the odds in your favor by choosing terrain with clean run out zones and by riding one at a time.

In the video below, you can easily see that the slab is becoming increasingly harder and harder to trigger and now we can have multiple tracks on the slope before it fails. Thanks to Jerrimy Brenchley for letting us use this Logan avalanche footage as it is a great example that you can still trigger persistent slab avalanches. Video link: HERE

The video below was done a couple of years ago but is a great example of what persistent slabs are. Yes, the snowpack in 2014/2015 was different and I didn't have a beard - but the description remains the same.

Persistent Slab Avalanches from Trent Meisenheimer on Vimeo.
Avalanche Problem 2
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 12 hours
description

"Warm before the storm" as the saying goes. Warming temperatures may heat the snow enough in steep southerly terrain to get a few loose wet avalanches. Keep an eye out for roller balls or snow that becomes damp. It's easy to avoid, if you're spotting roller balls naturally coming down, it's time to switch to a cooler aspect.

weather

Increasing, temperatures, southerly winds and cloudy skies are ahead of a strong cold front that will cross into northern Utah tomorrow afternoon. Southerly winds will continue to build for much of the day with speeds blowing in the 15-25 mph range along the high terrain. Temperatures will climb into the low to mid 40's at 9,000' feet. Tomorrow afternoon the winds will switch to a northerly direction and snow will begin in the afternoon and last into Saturday. We will remain in a stormy colder pattern for the next week - bring it on!

Expected totals are 10" to 20" inches with (0.9" -1.7" SWE) by late Saturday.

general announcements

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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.