Forecast: Ogden Area Mountains - Utah Avalanche Center

Forecast for the Ogden Area Mountains

Issued by Drew Hardesty on
Friday morning, January 21, 2022

Areas of MODERATE danger exist in the upper elevations where sensitive wind drifts up to a foot deep are possible. Some of these drifts may be triggered at a distance.

Loose snow sluffing is also expected in the steepest terrain of all aspects and all elevations.

Low

Moderate

Considerable

High

Extreme

Learn how to read the forecast here

Special Announcements

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.

Weather and Snow

Snowfall began a couple hours before midnight and we're up to 2-4" (0.2-0.4" SWE) in the northern Wasatch. We may squeeze another inch or two out of this system yet.

Temperatures are in the upper teens and low twenties. Winds are 5-10mph from the north-northwest except along the highest elevations where we're seeing hourly averages of 15-20mph with gusts to 30.

As the storm moves through, winds will shift north and then northeast and we'll see cool bitter winds of 15-20mph from those directions. Temps will be in the upper teens and low 20s. Clouds will thin and we'll see mostly and then partly cloudy skies by the afternoon. High pressure builds back in for the weekend with a weak storm slated for Monday night. I'm not seeing much on the horizon until the turn of the month. We'll see.

Skiing and riding conditions have been a little rugged of late and these few inches will do wonders for those with their cups half full. Low angle protected* slopes are recommended.

(*protected as in not wind drifted. See below.)

Greg Gagne's patented Week in Review is published and can be found HERE>

Recent Avalanches

None.

Type

Location

Likelihood

Size

Description

Three to five inches of new snow can easily be blown into wind drifts six to twelve inches thick. Any drifts will be blown onto a variety of slick or weak snow surfaces and may be surprisingly sensitive to the weight of a skier or rider. They may also be triggered from a distance. Richie Schumacher, Brian Smith, and Jonathan Melton have all reported slick crusts capped by weak snow and surface hoar in recent days. You can find their reports HERE>

Given the highly variable pre-existing snow surfaces, it'll be wise to anticipate sensitive conditions and foolish to extrapolate conditions from slope to slope, even slopes on similar aspects. Collapsing and shooting cracks are common signs of instability.

Note that the drifts will be primarily limited to the higher elevations but any terrain with fresh drifts of wind blown snow should be treated with caution and/or avoided.

Type

Location

Likelihood

Size

Description

Sluffing of the new snow is expected on all aspects AND elevations in the steepest terrain this morning. In confined and sustained terrain features, even 2-5" of new can pile up deeply, especially in terrain traps. Very weak snow and surface hoar (frozen dew) sits atop a rain/rime crust from a couple weeks ago. New snow will sluff very easily and run fast/far on this slick set up particularly in the low and mid-elevations.

General Announcements

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.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE GENERAL INFO AND FAQ

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