It looks like that weather patterns are changing this weekend with rain/snow showers and possibly in to next week as well. Castle Country Radio spoke over the telephone with the Utah Avalanche Center’s Brett Kobernik about the latest conditions.
“The avalanche conditions have kind of calmed down, we actually are enjoying a low avalanche danger since early January. Now there’s still plenty of weak snow deep in the snow pack, though the concern is that when we start adding more snow on top then what’s already there, is that going to wake up that sleeping dragon and have that thing come to life and start producing avalanches,” stated Kobernik. He doesn’t see us seeing a whole lot of changes during the weekend, it should be fairly quiet until the weather pattern changes next week.
What is predicted for the area this weekend is a rain/snow mix which means that it could be a heavy type of snow in the mountains. “When we see higher density, especially when is coupled with some stronger winds that tend to overload those old buried weak layers. Quite a bit more than just a nice low-density powder storm or powder snowstorm that falls straight out of the sky. Really the big concern is that we still have weak snow near the ground. If we didn’t have that, these storms probably wouldn’t produce much avalanche activity,” said Kobernik. It’s hard to really say until the storms hit and officials get out in the backcountry to check on conditions.
The forecast states that we will have several small storms throughout the coming week. “We’ll see what happens if that actually comes true, we’ll be pretty concerned how those old weak layers are behaving. The most important thing for folks to do is to check that daily avalanche forecast before they head out to the mountains. That’s updated at about 7:00 am each morning and that way they can see if the danger has increased and where the likely spots are to trigger avalanches and the terrain that its safer to go up and recreate in,” said Kobernik. You can access crucial information about the backcountry on the Utah Avalanche Center’s website at https://utahavalanchecenter.org/
If you do choose to recreate out in the mountains, be sure that you are prepared for the conditions. “If you’re traveling in avalanche terrain which is any slope steeper than 30 degrees. If you keep slope angles lower than 30 degrees than you’re not in avalanche terrain and you don’t need to be concerned. But if you are traveling in areas with steeper slopes you want to carry an avalanche beacon, an avalanche probe, and shovel. Make sure everyone in your group has those as well,” explained Kobernik. You get training and avalanche gear on the Utah Avalanche Center’s website at https://utahavalanchecenter.org/