Last week we saw a few small snow storms in the valleys which means there were probably several inches up in the backcountry. Castle Country Radio took time to sit down with Utah Avalanche Center’s Brett Kobernik to get all the details as of March 3.
“Well the Fairview area, Fairview Canyon, and Huntington Canyon area so up on top near Fairview Lakes picked up about two feet of snow since Sunday. That brings the total up to about ten feet of snow measured at Fairview Lakes, so just an incredible amount of snow up there right now,” stated Kobernik. The rest of the Skyline picked up about a foot to 16 inches in some areas.
The storms not only brought in several inches of snow but they also brought in some strong winds which can alter the avalanche conditions. “That has bumped up that avalanche danger a bit. Anytime we get the wind drift snow, those drifts can be sensitive to the weight of a person or snowmobile and that’s when we can see some problems with that wind drifted snow. We’ve had a series of storms with winds and they’re have been a couple of human-triggered avalanches, they’ve been small to medium-sized avalanches, no one was caught or carried or injured in any of those,” stated Kobernik. This does present how sensitive the wind drifts can be so its important to be careful when approaching these areas.
It looks as though there is going to be some snow storms moving through the area through mid-March which will add more snow. “That’s one thing that good to note is that we even have snow at lower elevations this season, and folks should keep in mind that anywhere that there’s a steep slope and its snow-covered, that is avalanche terrain. So you need to be careful down in the lower elevations as well, not just up in the highest terrain. There can be avalanche danger in the lower elevation as well so, that’s something that’s a little bit different this year than normal. People can recreate in areas that they don’t normally recreate in with snow on the ground,” stated Kobernik. So folks are urged to keep in mind that there is avalanche danger anywhere there is a steep slope.
Officials don’t want to discourage folks from recreating on public lands but do want them to be aware of the conditions before they head out. “To get the most updated information and to check out the daily avalanche forecast its on https://utahavalanchecenter.org/ for the Manti Skyline its updated by about 7:00 am. There you can go and check out how much snow we’ve gotten, current conditions, and any avalanche problems that we may be dealing with,” explained Kobernik.