Forecast: Ogden Area Mountains - Utah Avalanche Center

Forecast for the Ogden Area Mountains

Issued by Drew Hardesty on
Sunday morning, December 19, 2021

Areas of CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger exist on northwest through easterly facing slopes above about 8000'. Avalanches may break down 2' deep and propagate over a hundred feet wide. Cracking and collapsing are signs of instability. My advice is to stay on low angle slopes with nothing steep above. Pockety wind drifts may be found in the upper elevation bands and are to be avoided.

Remember: if you're headed out of bounds at a ski area you are entering Considerable avalanche danger.

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Weather and Snow

Skies are clear.

With a building inversion, mountain temperatures are in the mid-20s while trailheads and basins are mired in the teens.

Westerly winds picked up a touch along the ridgelines and are blowing 15-20mph. The highest anemometers are averaging 25-30mph with gusts to 45.

Riding conditions remain excellent, although many southerly and westerly aspects will have a zipper crust this morning before the mid-day thaw.

Ted Grosgebauer has some excellent photos of the Ogden mountains from the air yesterday, found HERE>

For today, we'll have mostly sunny skies, light to moderate westerly winds and temperatures soaring to low 30s up high and the upper 30s down low.

Sunscreen and skin wax are recommended.

Looking down the road, we'll have pleasant weather for the first part of the week before a series of storms impact the state Wednesday night into beyond.

Recent Avalanches

A natural cornice fall triggered what looked to be a 2' deep and 150' wide avalanche into older weak faceted grain on a very steep northeasterly facing aspect along the Ogden skyline two days ago.

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A poor snowpack structure exists on shady aspects above roughly 7500-8000'. Forecaster Greg Gagne toured near Powder Mountain yesterday and experienced long shooting cracks and rolling thunder collapses. His video is below. His full report is HERE. At this point, the best strategy will be to avoid steep terrain that harbors this weak unstable snow structure. Remember that you can trigger these avalanches from a distance.

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Increasing southwesterly winds overnight have drifted the recent storm snow into soft pillowy slabs of wind blown snow. They will be reactive to the weight of a skier or rider on the slope and may be more sensitive than you think. These drifts may be up to 12" deep or so and more pronounced just lee of the ridgelines on slopes facing west to north to southeast. Some mid-elevation exposed ridgelines may be prone to wind drifting as well.

Additional Information

If you trigger or see an avalanche adjacent to the road or one of the ski areas and are sure no one was caught in the avalanche, call the nearest mountain dispatch and alert them to the situation, this will allow SAR teams to stand down, preventing them from being subjected to unnecessary hazard.

Salt Lake and Park City – Alta Central (801-742-2033)

Canyons Resort/PCMR Dispatch (435 -615-1911)

Snowbasin Resort Dispatch (801-620-1017)

Powder Mountain Dispatch (801-745-3772 x 123).

Sundance Dispatch (801-223-4150)

General Announcements

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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.

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