Forecasters warned Utahns on Sunday to avoid the backcountry due to “extraordinarily dangerous,” “extreme” and potentially “deadly” avalanche conditions.
“Natural and human-triggered avalanches are certain,” the Utah Avalanche Center posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Wasatch Mountains, the Bear River Range, the Uintas, the Manti-Skyline plateau and the mountains of southwestern Utah are especially treacherous due to strong winds and heavy snowfall, the warning stated. It also advised people to stay off of and out from under slopes steeper than 30 degrees, at all elevations. The warning is in effect until Monday morning.
A forecaster with the National Weather Service said that a winter storm warning is in effect for the mountains spanning from the state’s northern border to the south. Feet of snow have been stacking up, he said, and the weather service expects another 8 to 16 inches, with locally higher amounts in the Cottonwood canyons.
Winter weather advisories are in effect for the Salt Lake and Tooele valleys, with scattered snow showers expected through Monday, the weather service said. A winter storm warning was previously in effect for these areas, the forecaster said, but the warning was downgraded to an advisory because less snow is expected than initially forecast.
Conditions are expected to clear in the Salt Lake Valley on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday and into Tuesday, then more snow is forecast for Wednesday. The high on Monday will be around 30, and the low will get down to 12 degrees. Tuesday’s high is expected to be 28, with a low of 21.
In the St. George area, conditions look like they will be sunny and clear until Tuesday night, when some clouds will roll in. Monday’s high will be 51, with a low of 29. Tuesday’s high will be about the same, with a low of 33.
