Feed: Utah Avalanche Center - Salt Lake - AggScore: 66.6

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Bottom Line Most terrain has a Low to Moderate avalanche danger. There are scattered areas with a Considerable avalanche danger which include the steeper northwest through northeast upper elevation terrain. Watch for freshly drifted snow which could overload the buried weak layers. Also, watch for sunny slopes to become damp and possibly unstable later today.

Current Conditions Under partly cloudy skies, temperatures dipped into the low teens overnight and we have light northwest winds that have increased just slightly over the last few hours. Riding conditions remain excellent on many aspects with heat damage to the southerly aspects.

Recent Activity A number of shallow soft slab avalanches were triggered by people in the backcountry on Thursday. It sounds like most were heat related, occurring on sunnier slopes. The largest were 50 feet wide. These were manageable for the most part, not posing a whole lot of threat for experienced travelers. There were also a few heat initiated loose snow avalanches reported with a couple producing fairly good sized debris piles. These packed a bit more punch and could pose a threat if you’re in the wrong place.

Threat #1 Threat: Deep Slabs Where: Probability: Very Unlikely Size/Class: 3 - Could bury and destroy a car. Trend: More Dangerous over the next 24hrs. The biggest threat remains an avalanche breaking into old weak snow near the ground although it seems like this issue is dormant at the time being. This being said, savvy people are still quite leery of many slopes out there. Also, watch out for what the wind does today as far as adding new weight to a slope. Here are some excellent observations detailing poor snowpack structure from some of our high end observers:1 LEES, 2 GAGNE, 3 NALLI

Threat #2 Threat: Wind Slabs Where: Probability: Possible Size/Class: 2 - Could bury, injure or kill a person. Trend: More Dangerous over the next 24hrs. The little bump in wind speeds is enough to make mention of some fresh drifts that may be forming and may be sensitive to a person. There’s plenty of loose powder to blow around and form some fresh slabs. The wind will blow from the northwest so pay close attention to fresh drifts on easterly aspects as well as any cross loaded terrain feature.

Threat #3 Threat: Wet Avalanches Where: Probability: Possible Size/Class: 2 - Could bury, injure or kill a person. Trend: More Dangerous over the next 8hrs. Heat related activity should again be considered today. It probably won’t be as pronounced as on Thursday but should be expected again. Stay out from underneath steep slopes that are receiving direct sun.

Mountain Weather We’ll have partly cloudy skies with temperatures up around 30 at 8000 feet and 20s along the ridges. Winds will be slightly gusty from the north and northwest in the moderate speed range. We are still anticipating a storm impacting us mainly on Sunday that should bring a nice refresher. Check our noon mountain weather forecast for more details later today.

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry - especially if you are adjacent to a ski area – please call the following teams to alert them to the slide and whether anyone is missing or not. Rescue teams can be exposed to significant hazard when responding to avalanches, and do not want to do so when unneeded. Thanks. Salt Lake – Alta Central (801-742-2033) Ogden – Snowbasin Patrol Dispatch (801-620-1017) Provo – Sundance Patrol Dispatch (801-223-4150) Dawn Patrol Forecast Hotline, updated by 05:30: 888-999-4019 option 8. Twitter Updates for your mobile phone http://utahavalanchecenter.org/twitter) Daily observations are frequently posted by 10 pm each evening. Subscribe to the daily avalanche advisory e-mail click HERE. UDOT canyon closures UDOT at (801) 975-4838 Wasatch Powderbird Guides does daily updates about where they'll be operating on this blog http://powderbird.blogspot.com/ . You have the opportunity to participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory by submitting avalanche and snow observations. You can also call us at 801-524-5304 or 800-662-4140, or email by clicking HERE Donate to your favorite non-profit –The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center. The UAC depends on contributions from users like you to support our work. We will update this forecast tomorrow morning. Thanks for calling.

Overall Danger Rating Moderate

Bottom Line Solid: 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,2,2,1,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,1,2,2

Bottom Line Pockets: 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,3,3,3,2,2,2,2,3

Threat 1 Solid: 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,1,1,1,2,2,2,2,2,1,1,1,2,2

Threat 1 Pockets: 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,1,1,1,2,2,3,3,3,1,1,1,2,3

Threat 2 Solid: 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,2,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,2,1,1,1

Threat 2 Pockets: 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,2,2,2,1,1,2,2,2,2,2,2,1,1

Threat 3 Solid: 0,0,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,2,2,2,2,0,0,0,0,2,2,2,2,0

Threat 3 Pockets: 0,0,0,2,2,2,2,0,0,0,0,2,2,2,2,0,0,0,0,2,2,2,2,0

RAW DATA
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If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry - especially if you are adjacent to a ski area – please call the following teams to alert them to the slide and whether anyone is missing or not. Rescue teams can be exposed to significant hazard when responding to avalanches, and do not want to do so when unneeded. Thanks.

Salt Lake – Alta Central (801-742-2033)

Ogden – Snowbasin Patrol Dispatch (801-620-1017)

Provo – Sundance Patrol Dispatch (801-223-4150)

Dawn Patrol Forecast Hotline, updated by 05:30: 888-999-4019 option 8.

Twitter Updates for your mobile phone http://utahavalanchecenter.org/twitter)

Daily observations are frequently posted by 10 pm each evening.

Subscribe to the daily avalanche advisory e-mail click HERE.

UDOT canyon closures UDOT at (801) 975-4838

Wasatch Powderbird Guides does daily updates about where they'll be operating on this blog http://powderbird.blogspot.com/ .

You have the opportunity to participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory by submitting avalanche and snow observations. You can also call us at 801-524-5304 or 800-662-4140, or email by clicking HERE

Donate to your favorite non-profit –The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center. The UAC depends on contributions from users like you to support our work.

We will update this forecast tomorrow morning. Thanks for calling.

[conditions_current] =>

Under partly cloudy skies, temperatures dipped into the low teens overnight and we have light northwest winds that have increased just slightly over the last few hours. Riding conditions remain excellent on many aspects with heat damage to the southerly aspects.

[activity_recent] =>

A number of shallow soft slab avalanches were triggered by people in the backcountry on Thursday. It sounds like most were heat related, occurring on sunnier slopes. The largest were 50 feet wide. These were manageable for the most part, not posing a whole lot of threat for experienced travelers. There were also a few heat initiated loose snow avalanches reported with a couple producing fairly good sized debris piles. These packed a bit more punch and could pose a threat if you’re in the wrong place.

[summary_bottomline] =>

Most terrain has a Low to Moderate avalanche danger. There are scattered areas with a Considerable avalanche danger which include the steeper northwest through northeast upper elevation terrain. Watch for freshly drifted snow which could overload the buried weak layers. Also, watch for sunny slopes to become damp and possibly unstable later today.

[weather_mountain] =>

We’ll have partly cloudy skies with temperatures up around 30 at 8000 feet and 20s along the ridges. Winds will be slightly gusty from the north and northwest in the moderate speed range. We are still anticipating a storm impacting us mainly on Sunday that should bring a nice refresher. Check our noon mountain weather forecast for more details later today.

[threat_problem_1] => Deep Slabs [threat_problem_2] => Wind Slabs [threat_problem_3] => Wet Avalanches [threat_probability_1] => Low [threat_probability_2] => Moderate [threat_probability_3] => Moderate [threat_size_1] => Class 3 [threat_size_2] => Class 2 [threat_size_3] => Class 2 [threat_trend_1] => More Dangerous [threat_trend_2] => More Dangerous [threat_trend_3] => More Dangerous [threat_trend_duration_3] => 8 [threat_assessment_1] =>

The biggest threat remains an avalanche breaking into old weak snow near the ground although it seems like this issue is dormant at the time being. This being said, savvy people are still quite leery of many slopes out there. Also, watch out for what the wind does today as far as adding new weight to a slope.

Here are some excellent observations detailing poor snowpack structure from some of our high end observers:1 LEES, 2 GAGNE, 3 NALLI

[threat_assessment_2] =>

The little bump in wind speeds is enough to make mention of some fresh drifts that may be forming and may be sensitive to a person. There’s plenty of loose powder to blow around and form some fresh slabs. The wind will blow from the northwest so pay close attention to fresh drifts on easterly aspects as well as any cross loaded terrain feature.

[threat_assessment_3] =>

Heat related activity should again be considered today. It probably won’t be as pronounced as on Thursday but should be expected again. Stay out from underneath steep slopes that are receiving direct sun.

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