Avalanche — Wasatch Mountains South of I-80, Utah

2024-01-13 · Wasatch Mountains South of I-80, Utah

Event narrative

A group of snowmobilers (estimated at 5 total) were riding in American Fork Canyon Saturday January 13 at an elevation of approximately 10000 feet on a northeast aspect. An avalanche was unintentionally triggered, catching 3 of the members, resulting in partial burial of 2 members, and full burial of 1 member. Of the 2 partial burials, one member deployed an airbag and was able to dig themselves out. The other was buried with a hand sticking out, and was able to be immediately dug out by other group members (with no injuries reported). The group member who was fully buried was buried for around 5 minutes before the group could locate and uncover them. They were unconscious and reportedly turning blue, but regained consciousness thereafter with no further injury reported. An avalanche accident and rescue summary was reported by a third party, and specific timing of the avalanche was not stated, thus the event time is estimated.

Wider weather episode

A fairly long duration two part winter storm moved through Utah in mid January. This winter storm resulted in several days of fairly substantial mountain snow, with more modest accumulations noted in some of the lower elevation valleys. Mountain snow was more or less a continuous feature with minimal breaks between the two portions of the system, while most valley accumulations occurred during the colder second half of the system. This system also produced periods of strong sustained winds and gusts, and was responsible for triggering multiple avalanches throughout Utah's mountains.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1151624. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.