ZCZC SLCWRKSNW TTAA00 KSLC 112242 Good afternoon, this is Evelyn Lees with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Forecast Center with your avalanche and mountain weather bulletin for the Salt Lake area mountains. Today is Saturday, January 11 and it's 1:30 pm. This bulletin is brought to you in part by a generous donation to the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Forecast Center from Wasatch Touring, the local source for equipment, clothing and service since 1972. (Provo sponsorship: This recording is made available to you courtesy of BYU Outdoors Unlimited. The information contained in this bulletin is from the U.S.Forest Service which is solely responsible for its content.) (Ogden sponsorship: This recording is made available courtesy of Weber State University Wilderness Recreation Center. The information contained in this bulletin is from the U.S. Forest Service which is solely responsible for its content.) Snow amounts are piling up as I speak, and the avalanche hazard is rapidly rising. As of 3 pm, snow totals include up to 18 inches in Little Cottonwood, about 12 inches in the Ogden mountains and in BCC, and a report of 12" at 8,000' in the Provo mountains, 8" on the Park City side and it's still snowing heavily. After a fairly quiet day, the winds have also picked up in the last couple of hours, averaging 25 to 35 mph from the NW. All this falling new snow and the newly forming wind slabs, which are areas of newly wind drifted snow, are falling on a very weak preexisting snow pack. Buried about 10 to 18 inches deep is a thin rime crust with weak snow below it, and this is one of the weakest layers in the snow pack. Deeper, there is another weak layer - faceted snow sitting on an ice crust, which also has the potential to fail with the additional loads. Both spontaneous and human triggered slides have been reported from a variety of locations today. By tomorrow, unless you have good route finding and snow stability skills, you should stick to low angle terrain and stay out from underneath steeper slopes. Collapsing or whoomphing noises will be indicative of even more hazardous conditions, where it will be possible to trigger avalanches from a distance. Another dangerous avalanche problem may be developing on the moderate angle slopes of about 30 to 35 degrees. These slopes are not stabilizing by sluffing or releasing small slabs, rather all the new snow is building up. If these lower angle slopes do fail, the potential will be for much deeper and larger avalanches. As this storm continues, the slope angles on which the snow fails will decrease. The avalanche danger is high on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees, especially where wind loaded. Both human triggered and spontaneous avalanches are likely. 30 to 35 degree slopes will have a moderate to high danger. Mountain weather: Continued snow this afternoon and tonight, with additional accumulations of 6 to 9 inches, with locally heavier amounts possible. The cold arctic air should be moving into northern Utah tonight, with temperatures dropping to near zero by morning. Winds shifting to the northeast by morning, and only light snow showers expected tomorrow with very cold temperatures. Highs tomorrow may not get above 10. There is still the potential for additional heavy snow on Monday and Tuesday. You can find out where the Powderbirds plan on flying each day by calling their recording at 521-6040, extension 5280. To report avalanche activity and snow conditions call us at 524- 5304 (or 1-800-662-4140) This bulletin and a detailed mountain weather forecast is available on the Internet at www.avalanche.org. Remember that this bulletin offers only generalized avalanche information and you are ultimately responsible for your own safety. The Utah Avalanche Center is brought to you by the Forest Service in partnership with the National Weather Service, the State of Utah, Salt Lake County and the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Forecast Center. Carol Ciliberti will update this bulletin by 7:30 on Sunday morning. Thanks for calling. Lees