Storms Dump Heavy Snow on Utah

Heavy snow blanketed Utah’s high country over New Years weekend, creating excellent ski conditions. Park City picked up 26 inches of new snow over a 48-hour period. The snow has created a high avalanche danger in backcountry areas. Avalanche control work is performed continuously at developed ski resorts and they are safe. People venturing out of bounds at the resorts or into the backcountry face hazardous conditions.

You can see resort snow totals here.

A little more snow is expected Wednesday. Mild temperatures are expected to continue over the region. Warm temperatures may increase the avalanche danger during the next few days.

Here’s the Utah Avalanche Center’s summary for today for the Wasatch Mountains:

"The avalanche danger is HIGH today especially in upper elevation wind loaded terrain. Human triggered avalanches have the potential to be very large and unsurvivable. With these large avalanches likely, you need to stay out of runout zones as these slides could travel thousands of feet in elevation. People without excellent avalanche and route finding skills are urged to stay out of the high country today."

Always check the current forecast for the area you plan to visit.