On Monday, the Utah Avalanche Center sent out a press release warning the public of a significantly elevated avalanche risk resulting from these storms.

“Heavy snowfall and strong winds are expected to rapidly increase avalanche danger across northern, central, and southwestern Utah beginning (Tuesday) and continuing through the week,” the release said. “Forecasters at the Utah Avalanche Center expect dangerous and complex avalanche conditions to develop on many slopes, with large natural and human-triggered avalanches likely.”

Brooke Maushund, avalanche forecaster with the Utah Avalanche Center, told the Standard-Examiner on Wednesday morning that the storm his been arriving in force with 6 a.m. totals of snow accumulation being 1 foot at Monte Christo, 8 inches at Powder Mountain and 6 inches at Snowbasin Resort, with the expectation of 6-9 more inches east of Eden and an additional 6-10 inches for the Ogden Skyline.

Maushund noted that the last significant mountain snowfall in the area came on Jan. 9 and that snowpack has dwindled since then, greatly enhancing the avalanche danger.

“That snow sat out for over a month,” she said. “And when snow sits out with the weather we had — cold, clear nights — that basically makes the snow on the ground weaker. We call it a process called faceting — it turns the snow that fell into what we call facets. These are very weak grains. It’s not too much of a problem without any additional snow on top, it’s just sugary weak snow. But now we’re adding fresh snow on top of that for the first time.”

She said the new snowfall creates a denser slab of snow, now settled on the weaker snowpack that preceded it.

“That strong-over-weak structure — that’s the recipe for avalanches,” she said.

Maushund said there are several precautions for people to take if they’re venturing into the mountains above Ogden in the coming days.

“This morning, we issued an avalanche warning, which is our most severe avalanche alert product that we use when large avalanches are certain or very likely and unusually dangerous conditions exist,” she said. “We recommend that people stay on slopes that are less than 30 degrees in steepness and stay well away from slopes connected to or below anything that’s greater than 30 degrees. Be aware of who’s above and below you. We also recommend that if folks do choose to go out today that they carry avalanche rescue equipment — that’s a beacon, a shovel and a probe — and have the knowledge and education of how to use those essential pieces of equipment.”

For more information and regular avalanche forecasts, visit https://utahavalanchecenter.org/.