Avalanche forecast

Skyline

Issued Mar 10, 2021valid to Mar 11, 2021Utah Avalanche Center

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Avalanche danger

Alpine
Treeline
Below treeline

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Out of date — this forecast expired 5 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

ANTICIPATE THE AVALANCHE DANGER TO INCREASE THROUGH THE WEEK.

Today the avalanche danger is MODERATE.

New snow being drifted onto slopes by the wind will increase the chance for triggering an avalanche that breaks into weak snow near the ground.

The most likely places would be on slopes steeper than 35 degrees that face northwest, north and east.

Avalanche problems

Persistent Slabs
N
NE
E
SE
S
SW
W
NW
Alpine
Treeline
Below treeline
Likelihood
Possible
Size
3
The weak layers of sugary faceted snow at the base of the snowpack remain a concern. On Sunday, there was a report of a loud and significant collapse where the entire snowpack WHOOMPED and dropped a few inches under some skiers near Electric Lake. This is a red flag that lets us know this weakness is still present. With the right amount of new snow and wind, this Persistent Weak Layer has the potential become active again. It is unclear how dangerous things will get during this week's upcoming snow but you should anticipate the avalanche danger to increase.

Snow and Weather

Current Conditions: The mountains picked up about 3 inches of new snow overnight. The west wind was pretty strong along the upper ridges. Temepratures are in the teens.

Mountain Weather: The big picture is that a large closed low pressure system is drifting down the California coast and will move inland through the southwest US. This will bring periods of snow to our area from now into the weekend. (Side note: This looks like a classic Denver/Front Range upslope snow event. Look for large amounts of snow in that area this weekend.)

For today we'll see mostly cloudy skies this morning with potentially some brief clearing this afternoon. Expect temperatures in the teens and low 20s with moderate speed northwest wind decreasing later. As of now, periods of snow look like they will happen tonight and Thursday. Then another couple periods late Friday into Saturday with lingering chances for snow into Saturday night. I think a total of 10 inches of snow is a reasonable amount to expect by Sunday.