"This week we had a little bit of clearing, we're able to see all the avalanche activity that occurred over the last few days. We got some more snow and some more wind, especially in Cache Valley, they got hit pretty hard. We saw avalanche danger rise again. Moving into the weekend, we're gonna see a bit of clear weather but avalanche danger is still going to remain elevated and human triggered avalanches are still likely. As we move into the end of the weekend, we might get another storm cycle and if we get more snow and we get more wind, the avalanche danger is going to rise again," Nikki Champion said.
If you're planning to head out into the backcountry, whether it's for skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, or another activity champion offers some recommendations for staying safe. She also explains what's causing the avalanches.
"Every single morning we put out the avalanche forecast and with that there's going to be an avalanche danger and a travel rating or travel advice. We're going to put that out for almost every region of the state. So, Logan, Ogden Salt Lake, Provo, the Uintas, and Moab. You can check for your different regions at 7 a.m everyday. The season in general, we were dealing with some early season snow and then we had a drought most of December, which caused the early season snow to weaken and that's kind of the foundation of our entire snowpack, then putting snow on top of it. And that's what we've been seeing avalanches fall on that the weak layer. This layer is going to be around for a while. So even though we might see some settlement into the weekend, and danger decreased a little bit, we still recommend most people stay out of avalanche terrain, off of slopes steeper than 30 degrees. And making sure that you're not underneath slopes steeper than 30 degrees," Champion said.
