Avalanche forecast

Skyline

Issued Jan 25, 2021valid to Jan 26, 2021Utah Avalanche Center

Avalanche danger

Alpine
Treeline
Below treeline

Out of date — this forecast expired 6 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

The avalanche danger is MODERATE today. Human triggered avalanches are possible. The most likely spots to trigger something are going to be in the higher more east facing terrain where the wind has formed fresh drifts and slabs.

Avalanche problems

Persistent Slabs
N
NE
E
SE
S
SW
W
NW
Alpine
Treeline
Below treeline
Likelihood
Possible
Size
2
The Persistent Weak Layers of faceted snow are widespread across the Skyline. They vary a bit from place to place depending on depth.

Shallower locations where the old snow was less than 1 1/2' deep consist of mostly loose faceted crystals. Many places are "unsupportable" to skiers meaning they punch right through the entire snowpack. Chris Magerl sent a report documenting this from his travels on Sunday. DETAILS HERE.

Deeper locations where the old snow was 2' deep or more has a little more structure. It still consists of many layers of faceted sugary snow crystals but it is a bit more supportable to skiers and even snowmachines to a limited extent. John Pikus documented this will during his travels on Saturday. DETAILS HERE.

The bottom line is overall, the older layers of snow are very loose and weak and pose a great threat as we load more new layers of snow on top of them.

Snow and Weather

Current Conditions: Under the new powder lies a variety of old snow surfaces from bullet proof firm wind boards to bottomless sugar. This makes travel a bit tricky as in some places you're bouncing off the hard underlying snow and some places your punching right through to the ground. Overnight we picked up a couple of inches of fluff. Temperatures dipped into the single digits and low teens. West wind bumped up in speed a bit along the ridges but nothing too outrageous.

Mountain Weather:

The weather pattern is unsettled with cold air and periods of snow over the next few days. Accumulations won't be huge but we should get a few inches here and there. We might see a bit more snowfall this morning in a southwest flow. Highs today will be in the upper teens. Wind looks pretty light. The flow shifts southeast later in the day and we should see another shot of snow tonight which will most likely favor places like Ferron Canyon on the east side of the range.

The longer range forecast looks pretty active still with more water being advertised through early February.