Provo

Overall the avalanche danger is generally LOW and normal caution exists. You may encounter fast and long-running sluffs in both the trace new snow and the weak, dry snow on steep slopes on northerly aspects, or isolated pockets of fresh wind-drifted snow in exposed terrain at the mid and upper elevations. Getting caught in even a small avalanche today could be serious in consequential terrain Continue to maintain safe travel habits; this means exposing one person at a time to avalanche terrain, having someone watch them from a safe location, and not traveling above or below other parties.

Thanks to the generous support of our local resorts and Ski Utah, discount lift tickets are now available. Support the UAC while you ski at the resorts this season. Tickets are available here.

No new avalanches were reported yesterday, but two avalanches from the Central Wasatch of interest have been reported in the last week:

• Monday there was one report of a small human-triggered soft slab of wind drifted snow in Upper Lambs Canyon. This avalanche was on an east aspect on a 32° slope at 8,700' on a heavily wind-loaded slope, no one was caught or carried.
• On Sunday, a catch-and-carry on the Catcher's Mitt on Kessler where a skier triggered a sluff in the weak surface snow on a steep, 40° slope. The skier was briefly caught and carried over a 10' cliff band and fortunately stopped short before going over a 30' cliff. I encourage you to read through this honest, well-described account of how getting caught in a small avalanche can be consequential in steep terrain.

We got some snow! Skies are overcast, and it is lightly snowing. Areas are reporting about a trace amount to an inch of new snow across the range. Temperatures plummeted again overnight and are now hovering near zero F. Winds are light and have transitioned Northwesterly, averaging below 5 mph with the highest ridgeline gusts near 20 mph.

Today: Mostly cloudy skies with temperatures in the upper teens F. The northwesterly winds will remain about the same throughout the day, averaging in the teens with gusts below 25 mph at the mid elevations; and gusts near 35 mph at upper elevations. We could squeeze out another 1" of snow before skies clear this afternoon.

The days of cold and clear weather have weakened the snow surface with the top several inches of snow now very weak and faceted. The few inches of new snow today will offer a good refresh to areas that may not have been as well protected, but will likely not bond well to the weak faceted snow and just add to the weakening snow surface in days to come. While today's new snow is not much of a concern, once larger storms do return (and they will), we will possibly enter a period of dangerous avalanche conditions. Drew's video below illustrates the current weak snow surface across the range.

Who's up for some free avalanche training? Get a refresher, become better prepared for an upcoming avalanche class, or just boost your skills. Go to https://learn.kbyg.org/ and scroll down to Step 2 for a series of interactive online avalanche courses produced by the UAC.

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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

Backcountry Emergency Procedures

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