Bollettino valanghe

Salt Lake

Pubblicato il Feb 2, 2025valido fino al Feb 3, 2025Utah Avalanche Center

Pericolo valanghe

Alta quota
Limite del bosco
Sotto il limite del bosco

Non aggiornato — questo bollettino è scaduto 2 years ago. Stai vedendo condizioni passate, non il bollettino in corso.

In sintesi

The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE at all aspects and elevations where it will be likely for humans to trigger avalanches failing on a layer of weak sugary faceted snow now buried under new snow and wind drifts. These avalanches could be 1'-3' deep and could be larger if they involve the facets near the ground. With warming temperatures and rain up to 8,500' there is a possibility of wet snow avalanches in mid and lower elevation terrain. Strong winds created fresh wind-drifts at mid and upper elevations. These drifts may break above you; and can be avoided by choosing to travel on lower angle, less than 30° slopes out of the wind zone.

Problemi valanghivi

Wind Slabs
N
NE
E
SE
S
SW
W
NW
Alta quota
Limite del bosco
Sotto il limite del bosco
Probabilità
Likely
Dimensione
2
Strong winds have drifted new snow into stiff drifts that now sit on top of an old weak sugary faceted snow surface. These drifts will not bond well to the old snow surface. Look for and avoid pillowy, rounded piles of snow. Shooting cracks, cornices, and collapsing are all signs of wind-drifted snow and these are areas to avoid. Drifts may appear lower on the slope and further down ridgelines than you may expect.
Persistent Slabs
N
NE
E
SE
S
SW
W
NW
Alta quota
Limite del bosco
Sotto il limite del bosco
Probabilità
Possible
Dimensione
3
There are currently two buried weak layers in our snowpack. One is a layer of buried near-surface facets that formed during last week's cold clear weather. This layer will not bond well to the newest snow or recent wind drifts and expect to see sloughing and loose new snow avalanches on this layer. The second layer is buried near the ground. This layer was formed in December and was responsible for large avalanches, including two fatalities (HERE and HERE) around the Holiday Avalanche Cycle. This layer will be more likely to be triggered as the storm continues and we could see avalanches 1'-3' deep. The most likely places to trigger an avalanche on this layer of buried facets are steep slopes that have a thinner snowpack, rocky gully features, and areas that previously avalanched (repeaters).

Read more about persistent weak layer avalanches HERE.
Loose Wet
N
NE
E
SE
S
SW
W
NW
Alta quota
Limite del bosco
Sotto il limite del bosco
Probabilità
Possible
Dimensione
2
With base building snow falling yesterday followed up by rain and above average temperatures today be on the look out for and avoid wet loose avalanches in lower elevation terrain. These will most likely occur in steep rocky gully features and may not be enough to bury you, but combined with buried facets near the ground there is an off chance of a lower elevation wet avalanche that breaks out more as a slab avalanche. Any dry snow avalanche that trenches down to wet snow would be bigger and have more mass. Stay off of slopes where you start to sink through the snowpack to the ground with your skis or board.

Recent Activity

Yesterday there were several avalanches reported to the Utah Avalanche Center. Most of these were new or wind-drifted snow avalanches failing on near surface facets. Check out all recent observations and avalanches HERE.

Mineral Fork-north aspect at 9,900'-wind-drifted snow avalanche that stepped down to the facets at the ground running 1500' vertical feet (photo of crown below)
East Bowl-west aspect at 10,100' -new snow avalanche failing on the old/new interface
Maybird-northeast aspect at 9,800'- new snow avalanche failing on the new/old interface

Snow and Weather

Under partly cloudy skies trailhead temperatures are in the low to mid 30's °F and the highest peaks are in the mid 20's °F. Winds are blowing from the southwest in the 30's gusting to the 50's MPH at the 9,000' ridgelines and blowing from the west in the high 50's gusting to over 100 MPH at the 11,000 ridgelines. Storm totals range from 7"-12" snow with .75"-1.50" water. Today, under partly cloudy skies we can expect to see 1"-3" of snow with up to .25" of water and a freezing level hovering around 8,500' in elevation. There is a possibility of rain at lower elevations. Temperatures are forecast to be 38-42°F with winds blowing strong from the southwest 25 gusting to 35 MPH at the lower ridgelines and from the southwest 55 gusting to 80 at the highest ridgelines. Wind gusts could be over 90 MPH even down to exposed 9,000' ridgelines.

Additional Info

Nikki's Week in Review is available. Be sure to include this valuable resource as part of your regular planning for backcountry travel.

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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.

Observations and Avalanches

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