Salt Lake
Avalanche danger
- Alpine
- Treeline
- Below treeline
Highlights
The overall avalanche danger remains LOW, and normal caution is advised.
Today, you may be able to trigger both wet and dry loose snow sluffs on southerly and northerly aspects, respectively. Any dry loose sluff could gouge into older faceted snow, entraining more snow than expected and leaving larger debris piles.
Pay attention to the bump in winds. At the highest elevations, you may also encounter shallow slabs of wind-drifted snow in lee terrain.
Special Announcement
New essay by UAC Director Paige Pagnucco - Weak Snow: Today’s Surface, Tomorrow’s Avalanche Problem
Recent Activity
The faceted surface snow continues to produce loose dry avalanches in steep terrain. Of note, whereas these dry loose “facet” sluffs used to be just big enough to knock you off your feet, they are now nearly large enough to bury you.
Yesterday, Bo was easily able to get the faceted snow surface to move around in Upper Day's fork.
Snow and Weather
This morning, skies are clear and mountain temperatures sit in the upper 20s to low 30s °F. West to northwest winds are blowing 10–20 mph with gusts into the 30s, while at 11,000 feet winds are stronger, 30–40 mph with gusts up to 50–60 mph.
Today will be mostly sunny, with moderate northwest winds remaining elevated along the highest ridgelines, where gusts may reach 50 mph. Temperatures will warm into the mid-30s °F at upper elevations and the mid-40s °F down low. As Drew mentioned yesterday, the longer-term weather outlook remains fairly grim, with not one but two blocking patterns setting up to deflect any potential storms. Not all hope is lost, however. There are hints of a pattern shift in the second week of February, possibly closer to Valentine’s Day. For now, we will just keep updating the models and hoping for a change.
Riding and travel conditions are much improved thanks to Wednesday night’s couple of inches of snow. It’s a good time to get out and explore.
❄️
The Week in Review is hot off the press!
General Announcements
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.