Although the Calendar may read mid-March, the weather feels closer to early February. With storms expected to drop a foot of snow along the Manti Skyline, Castle Country Radio spoke with Avalanche Expert Brett Kobernik to see how this might impact this weekend’s avalanche forecast.
Storms have continued to roll across the Castle Country Area and the Manti Skyline, with last week’s flurry initially causing concerns amongst avalanche researchers but ultimately not raising danger. ” All said and done, we picked up about two feet of snow last week. And the good thing was it wasn’t a real windy storm there last Thursday and Friday,” said Kobernik,” And so avalanche conditions didn’t get super dangerous. It did reach the considerable danger rating, which is an elevated danger rating. And there were some natural avalanches during the storm. Once the storm cleared, though, the new snow was pretty well-behaved.”
With conditions stabilizing in the high country, the persistent weak layer – which has wreaked havoc all season – has finally begun to settle. “These older layers of sugary, loose snow that have been in the snowpack since the earlier season are starting to turn the corner and gain strength finally.” Kobernik explained,” And they do that in a couple of ways. The new snow we put on these older layers builds a stronger bridge over those old, weak layers. But what it does – and probably the most important thing – is that it adds weight. It slowly adds weight, compresses those old weak layers, and forces them to bond.”
With snowstorms expected over the weekend, Kobernik previewed what adventurers can expect while exploring the Manti Skyline,” I think that we should see a foot out of this storm by the time it’s all said and done on Saturday. It started on Thursday, and it’s going to linger through the day on Friday and into Saturday. So it’s not going to be a huge storm. But the one thing I am seeing is there’s going to be a little wind with this one. And wind can always produce more dangerous conditions. So we’re going to be keeping an eye on that.”
Although the danger may be low, the consequences remain high if an avalanche is triggered,” there was a fatality in Utah last week due to an avalanche. This was in the western Uinta Mountains, and it did break into those older, persistent, weak layers. Now, the person was a skier. He accessed the backcountry via a snow bike. He was doing some backcountry skiing, but he was by himself, and he did not have avalanche rescue gear. So there’s two strikes right there. You need to have avalanche rescue gear because if you’re buried, it will be the only way people can find you in time. And then it also points out that if you’re traveling solo out there, that that’s also risky.”
Link to Preliminary Report:https://t.co/2Y5PSALFqe pic.twitter.com/8RP8Sg6m9d
— UtahAvalancheCenter (@UACwasatch) March 9, 2025
Each year, the Utah Avalanche Center hosts a spring donation drive to help raise funds to deliver avalanche information. Kobernik explained how this drive benefits not just the organization but everyone who enjoys spending time in the backcountry: “We have a nonprofit side of the Avalanche Center, and they rely on lots of donations to keep the whole thing running. So when you go on to that forecast, if you find value in those forecasts, please consider donating to the nonprofit side of the Avalanche Center.”
Donations can be made online here.
Wrapping up our conversation, Kobernik said,” When you’re going out this weekend, if you’re going to go up and enjoy that fresh snow, check that forecast Saturday morning. It’s updated by about 7 a.m. It’s going to give you the overall danger rating, and it’s going to tell you about what kind of conditions you can expect, things to look out for and just how to stay safe when you get up there into the mountains.”
The daily avalanche forecast can be viewed on UtahAvalancheCenter.org.