Avalanche Threat Remains Considerable In Utah
Feb 1, 2021, 11:45 AM | Updated: 8:32 pm
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Over the weekend, Utah saw its second deadly avalanche in Park City.
Avalanche forecasters said this has been a “tricky” season for predicting the conditions due to weather.
“The problem right now is that we have weak snow near the ground,” said Craig Gordon with the Utah Avalanche Center. “Each time we load it up with snow or wind, the weak layers come back to life.”
Gordon has been forecasting avalanche conditions for 30 years, and he said this season particularly has been difficult.
“Super unusual for us to be here first week of February, the first day of February, and you know we’re measuring storm snow in inches not in feet,” he said.
The threat for avalanches in the higher elevation remains high this week for the Wasatch Mountain Range, where the deadly avalanche happened Saturday. There were other natural avalanches over the weekend, too.
Time, more snow, and patience are the recipe to fix the thin snow base, Gordon said. In the meantime, people need to be prepared with the latest forecasts for their region.
The forecasts can be found at UtahAvalancheCenter.org.
“Check the forecasts before you recreate outside,” Gordon said. “Hiking, snowmobiling, skiing, you have to be prepared with the avalanche information.”
