Provo

Areas of MODERATE danger exist for steep wind drifted slopes. Human triggered avalanches are possible on many aspects and more pronounced at the upper elevations. An isolated chance exists for avalanches stepping down into the old weak snow at or near the ground in shallow, rocky terrain (generally northwest to east facing slopes). In some of the steeper terrain, loose snow avalanches may run with provocation.

Safe travel protocol is key today: Travel one at a time in steep terrain, keep your partner in sight and be in position to get to them quickly should there be an avalanche.

The new UAC IOS mobile app is now available on the app store. Check out the new "My Weather" feature.

Greg's excellent Week in Review can be found here.

No avalanche activity reported from the Provo mountains yesterday, but the only reports were from the north fork of Provo Canyon.

In the central Wasatch, both natural and human-triggered soft slabs 8-16" deep were reported in steep wind-swept terrain in the upper elevations yesterday. Many of these were cross-loaded by the east/northeast winds onto aspects with a southerly component, but not all. Terrain has a way of channeling drifts onto a multitude of aspects. One skier triggered a hard slab that broke 30' above him and was briefly caught and carried with no incident.

• The outlier was a natural hard slab that broke into old snow 2-3' deep and 80' wide just south of the Cardiac Ridge in Cardiff Fork of BCC. It's steep terrain facing northeast at roughly 10,500'. (pc: Wilson). Perhaps a shallow sluff cascading from above crow-barred the thing out.

Mountain temperatures struggle to stay on this side of zero along the ridgelines and in the basins and valleys but should slowly warm toward the low teens today. Winds backed from the east-northeast and are now blowing 10-15mph from the northwest. 11,000' winds hum at 25mph with gusts to 35. Skiing and riding conditions remain excellent in the wind protected areas.

We'll see increasing cloud cover today along with warming temperatures ahead of another quick hitting storm for tomorrow. Tomorrow's storm should produce another 2-5" of very low density snow while ushering some of the coldest temps of the winter. We'll be back in the icebox at or below zero yet again.

Twenty minutes after publishing yesterday's forecast of Considerable for wind slabs, I get a call that someone skinning up Little Superior above LCC had triggered a wind slab that ran over 1500'. An hour later, it was relayed to me that another skier heading uphill had triggered another wind slab, only this avalanche nearly took out four people below. They don't call it Wasangeles here for nothing. Try to spread out a touch, work from island of safety to island of safety. Even when going uphill.

To get help in an emergency (to request a rescue) in the Wasatch, call 911. Be prepared to give your GPS coordinates or the run name. Dispatchers have a copy of the Wasatch Backcountry Ski map.

Backcountry Emergencies. (clickable link)It outlines your step-by-step method in the event of a winter backcountry incident.

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry, but no one is hurt and you do not need assistance, please notify the nearest ski area dispatch to avoid a needless response by rescue teams. Thanks.

Salt Lake and Park City – Alta Central (801-742-2033), Canyons Resort/PCMR Dispatch (435-615-1911)

Ogden - Snowbasin Resort Dispatch (801-620-1017), Powder Mountain Dispatch (801-745-3772 x 123)

Provo - Sundance Dispatch (801-223-4150)

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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.