Avalanche forecast

Ogden

Utah Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

  • Alpine
  • Treeline
  • Below treeline
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Out of date — this forecast expired 7 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE for Wet Snow avalanches at all mid and upper elevations. Rain, heavy snow and strong southerly winds have created dangerous avalanche conditions. Natural avalanches are possible and human triggered slides are likely. Avoid being on or under any slopes steeper than 30° in slope steepness. I would not recommend traveling in avalanche terrain today.

Evelyn Lees will be updating the Salt Lake City, Ogden and Provo forecast Tuesday morning (April 16 th) by 7:30 am.

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    3

    It's currently raining hard up to about 8,500' in the Ogden area and many of the snow sites are reporting 0.50"-1.80" of water overnight. Anytime we have rain falling on the snow it creates very dangerous avalanche conditions. Natural avalanches are possible and human triggered slides are likely. Today is not the day to be in any steep terrain at the mid and upper elevations. If you're going to get out in the backcountry watch your slope angles and avoid being on or under any slopes steeper than 30° degrees in slope steepness. At low elevations avoid steep terrain traps where you could be buried deeply in a gully. Also avoid run-out zone, where avalanches can travel a long distance from above.

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    2

    The southerly wind continues to blow at speeds of 15-25 mph across the upper elevation ridge lines. Look for and avoid smooth, rounded, hollow sounding snow on all steep slopes at the upper elevations. Cracks shooting away from you are a huge red flag. The longer the crack, the more dangerous.

Special Announcement

Winter's not stopping, and neither are we! More snow = more forecasts through April 21st. We'll be doing early morning online forecasts for Ogden, Salt Lake and Provo most days this week, and definitely on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of Easter weekend (April 19-21). Check the Bottom Line each day for the time of the next up date. We will continue posting observations every day this week.

Recent Activity

No reports from the Ogden area yesterday.

Snow and Weather

"If you want to see the sunshine you'll have to weather the storm." For those of us not wanting to see the sun, the storm is on our doorstep and it's raining/snowing. It's avalanche weather!

Under mostly cloudy skies the overnight temps (< 9,000') bottomed out at 32-35 °F at almost all stations across the range. Overnight the mountains have picked up 0.50" - 1.80" of water and it's currently raining to 9,000'. The west-south-west winds have continued and overnight there was a gust to 70 mph at 9,400'. Upper elevation winds are currently blowing 15-20 mph gusting into the 30's and 40's.

For today we can expect the rain/snow line to be 8,000' rising to 9,000' by 5:00 pm. We should see 3-6" of new snow with the possibility of more in favored locations throughout the day; periods of strong precipitation intensity are possible. Winds will remain from the west-south-west and are forecasted to be 15-25 mph gusting into the 30's and 40's at upper elevations. The stronger storm will move overhead late this evening bringing the rain/snow line down and we will see snow throughout the day on Tuesday with instability lingering into Wednesday with storm totals forecasted at 12"-18" of new snow.

General Announcements

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This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done. 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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