Avalanche in Wasatch Mountains South of I-80, Utah

In the late afternoon hours a man and his juvenile son were riding snowmobiles in the Snake Creek/Ant Knolls area of the Wasatch Mountains roughly between Alta and Midway. The father reportedly became stuck at the bottom of a steep bowl like slope around 4:00 PM, with the son also becoming stuck upon attempting to help. An avalanche released from higher up on the slope, narrowly avoiding the son, but catching and carrying the father and his snowmobile roughly 300 feet down the hill, burying him near a tree under around two feet of snow. The son called 911 and began searching for his father, but by the time he was able to partially unbury his father, the father had passed.

A strong and moist trough pushed inland during the middle portion of February, leading to several days of impactful weather. Strong southwesterly flow on the leading edge of the trough resulted in many instances of strong winds and gusts, and moisture was sufficient to begin producing mountain snow more or less throughout the state. The deep nature of the trough then contained sufficient cold air to drop snow levels following a cold frontal passage, bringing snow to many valley floors, areas of scattered snow squalls, and a period of intense snowfall rates to some of the northern mountains. The snowfall resulted in numerous vehicle accidents, road and canyon closures, and avalanches (of which a fatality was reported).