Avalanche forecast

Skyline

Utah Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

  • Alpine
  • Treeline
  • Below treeline
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Out of date — this forecast expired 4 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

HEADS UP!! DANGEROUS AVALANCHE CONDITIONS EXIST TODAY AND CONDITIONS WILL REMAIN DANGEROUS THROUGH THE WEEKEND.

The avalanche danger remains CONSIDERABLE on steep slopes that face west, north and east. Human triggered avalanches breaking 1 to 2 feet deep are likely. Stay out from underneath steep slopes as avalanches can be triggered from a distance right now.

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Very Likely
    Size
    3

    There is no mystery anymore. The Persistent Weak Layer of sugary faceted snow that formed in January and early February has shown its cards. The avalanche activity tells all. It is time to back off all steep slopes that face west, north and east. I almost guarantee we will hear about human triggered avalanches over the next couple of days. These Persistent Weak Layers don't go away overnight. We will be dealing with this for some time to come. DO NOT TAKE THIS SITUATION LIGHTLY.

Recent Activity

I had quite the day on Thursday of looking at recent avalanche activity. I went up Fairview Canyon and over to the Miller Flat trailhead. On the way I spotted the first significant slab avalanche that I've seen from these recent storms. It may have released naturally but my guess is that the snowmobiler who was near the toe had just triggered it:

We unloaded and immediately spotted a large avalanche in lower Staker Canyon which we went to get a closer look at. This most likely released on Wednesday at the end of the storm:

Next we climbed up a ridge and got a view of another large natural avalanche in Jordan Canyon:

We gained the Skyline ridge and got to view a slew of natural avalanches in main Pleasant Creek as well as Coal Fork:

We descended Seeley Canyon and found a decent sized pocket in the south fork. We then worked back to the truck. As we were driving down I spotted this avalanche that was remotely triggered (triggered from a distance) by snowmobilers during the day. They were playing in the bottom of the bowl and triggered it. I appears that it overran a few of their tracks:

I got home and my friend Dale called me and told me that they had remotely triggered a deep avalanche while skiing Twin Creek:

Snow and Weather

Current Conditions

It was a cold day on Thursday with light to moderate speed west wind. Riding conditions remain excellent. Overnight temperatures were in the single digits and the wind appears to have slowed even more.

Mountain Weather

We have low level clouds this morning shrouding the mountains. I'm hoping that they will dissipate as the day goes on but I'm not totally sure that will happen. It's going to be another cold one today with high temperatures potentially not making it out of the single digits. There will be some wind today from a west northwest direction but it shouldn't get too strong. Saturday looks clear with high temperatures warming to around 20˚F.

Additional Info

SKYLINE AVALANCHES & OBSERVATIONS

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This forecast is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This forecast describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

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