It’s been pretty quiet as far as storms passing through this week in both the valleys and out in the backcountry that it has somewhat stabilized some avalanche conditions.  Castle Country Radio was able to speak over the telephone with the Utah Avalanche Center’s Brett Kobernik about the latest conditions.

“We haven’t had any significant storms over the last week, and the snowpack continues to settle and stabilize. This basically means that we’ve been dealing with decreasing avalanche danger throughout the week. There’s less danger up there right now then there has been all season long so far,” stated Kobernik. So for now there is a moderate avalanche danger up along the Skyline area due to the mild weather conditions we had this past week.

It looks as though it will be quiet again this coming weekend with the future forecast showing the next storm to hit the Castle Country area would be midweek. “It looks like we may get into a series of storms again towards the middle of next week. I don’t see any blockbuster storms but perhaps just a series of decent snow storms that will continue to build our snowpack. If that’s the case, it’s most likely our avalanche danger will probably not bump up all that much during those storms,” said Kobernik.

The most important thing people need to know is to always check the avalanche conditions before heading out to the backcountry. “Yes, exactly, get the information before you head out there and that will help you decide whether it’s a good time to go challenge yourself in some steep terrain or if its time to just back off and enjoy the meadows. You know the avalanche danger rises and falls throughout the winter so arming yourself with that information before heading out is probably the best way to stay safe,” explained Kobernik.

The https://utahavalanchecenter.org/ website has so much important information, videos and educational topics to help keep folks safe in the backcountry.