Tuesday - January 22, 2008 - 7:48 am

SUMMARY >>>

The avalanche danger is MODERATE for loose snow avalanching as well as
spotty soft slabs.  People without a lot of experience need to pay
close attention to terrain and be careful of consequences if something
should slide.  Experienced users will find slope cuts to be a very
handy tool.  Invert your ski pole for a quick depth check as well as a
feel of the surface snow.  Quick hand pits are a great way to peek at
the upper layers as well.
Forecaster: Brett 

CURRENT CONDITIONS >>>

The Wasatch received a decent shot of snow early Monday morning.
Taking a quick look at the storm totals:  Ben Lomond area, about a
foot with a bit more reported from Snowbasin;  Park City Ridge, 4 to 9
inches;  Cottonwoods, 6 to 20 inches;  and the Provo area had about a
foot or better.  Densities were fairly light with 3 tenths to an inch
of water weight.  Lack of orographic lift resulted in high snow
amounts along the foothills as well as quite variable amounts from
location to location at the higher elevations.  Temperatures have
dropped into the single digits and winds are light from the west.

RECENT AVALANCHES AND SNOWPACK INFO >>>

The high precipitation rates early Monday morning produced a fairly
widespread natural avalanche cycle with natural loose snow avalanching
the most prevalent but also natural soft slab development in a number
of locations.  Natural soft slab activity slowed dramatically as the
day progressed.  A few people reported triggering some soft slabs in
the foothills  and into the mid elevation
terrain above the foothills.  Almost all observations included
sluffing from slope cuts.    Some of these produced fairly
good sized piles of debris and at least one skier was knocked over by
a sluff he created and misjudged its speed.  Winds did create some
drifting which didn't seem real sensitive and some larger cornices
were formed on the north sides of the upper ridges.  The instabilities
were very manageable for experienced backcountry travelers.  Obvious
signs included visible natural soft slab and loose snow avalanches.
Slope cuts were very effective revealing how easily the snow would
sluff and releasing a few soft slabs as well.  (My observations
from Monday)

AVALANCHE CONCERNS >>>

For today, loose snow avalanching will probably be the most widespread
issue.  Cold temperatures overnight should have slowed the settlement
rate a bit and there should be plenty of loose snow on the surface to
push around today.  It won't be as sensitive as on Monday.  I'd also
keep in mind the possibility of finding a soft slab that may release
within the newest snow in areas that received the most snow.  This
includes the lower elevations as well as the foothills.

MOUNTAIN WEATHER >>>

We'll see partly cloudy skies today with a slight chance for snow
flurries.  Temperatures will warm into the teens with light to
moderate wind speeds from the west.  We'll see another day on
Wednesday without significant snowfall before the next system starts
to affect us later in the week.  As for the long range outlook, let's
just say that a pronounced ridge of high pressure is not in our future
as of now.