1 avalanche, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Salt Lake City, UT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 27, 10:25 AM MST, 2 hours 35 minutes earlier.
UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 1020 AM MST MON FEB 26 2001 SYNOPSIS...RELATIVELY DRY NORTHERLY FLOW WILL BE OVER NORTHERN UTAH TODAY WITH A MOIST AIRMASS TO THE SOUTH. THE MOISTURE WILL SPREAD BACK INTO NORTHERN UTAH TONIGHT. DISCUSSION...NO BIG SURPRISES ON THE SYNOPTIC SCALE WITH A CLOSED LOW REMAINING OFF SOUTHERN CA AND A NEW SHORTWAVE DROPING SOUTHWEST INTO THE WESTERN GREAT BASIN. THIS HAS BEEN WELL ADVERTISED BY THE MODELS FOR THE LAST SEVERAL RUNS AND THE PLAN FOR THE NEXT 48 HOURS HASNT CHANGED MUCH. THE SHORTWAVE WILL EVOLVE INTO A NEW LOW CENTER AND EJECT THE OLD LOW OUT AS A WEAKENING SHORTWAVE. THE EJECTING WAVE WILL MOVE OVER MOSTLY THE SOUTHERN PART OF UTAH LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY WEDNESDAY. THE ONLY SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN THE NEW MODELS IS THAT THE EJECTING SHORTWAVE MOVES A LITTLE FARTHER NORTH OVER WESTERN UT AND WILL PUT A LITTLE BETTER CHANCE OF SOME SNOW SHOWERS IN AT LEAST THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE WASATCH FRONT LATE TONIGHT AND WED. AGREE WITH THE PREVIOUS IDEA THAT WE MAY NEED A SNOW ADVISORY TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY MORNING FOR THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS AS THE SHORTWAVE MOVES PAST. IN THE SHORT TERM CONDITIONS ARE IMPROVING THIS MORNING IN MOST AREAS AS THE DEFORMATION ZONE THAT HAS BEEN OVER CENTRAL UT IS BEING SQUEEZED OUT OF EXISTANCE. THE EVOLVING LOW FROM THE NEW SHORTWAVE WILL TURN THE FLOW SOUTHERLY THROUGHOUT THE FORECAST AREA DURING THE DAY WITH THE DEFORMATION TOTALLY DISAPPEARING. WILL BE UPDATING TO IMPROVE CONDITIONS OVER MUCH OF THE AREA FOR THIS AFTERNOON. THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE ALONG THE ARIZONA BORDER. HOWEVER THE AIRMASS IN THAT AREA IS SOMEWHAT UNSTABLE AT THE LOW LEVELS AND CUMULUS ALREADY EVIDENT ON VISIBLE IMAGERY SO THERE COULD EASILY BE SCATTERED LIGHT SHOWER ACTIVITY DEVELOP DURING THE AFTERNOON. WE HAVE ALSO HAD AN INTERESTING MICROSCALE SITUATION ALONG THE WASATCH FRONT THIS MORNING. A SMALL SCALE LOW LEVEL CYCLONIC CIRCULATION DEVELOPED ABOUT SUNRISE AND PRODUCED ENOUGH LIFT FOR RAPID LOW LEVEL CLOUD DEVELOPMENT AND EVEN SOME LIGHT SNOW SHOWER ACTIVITY. THIS CIRCULATION SHOULD DISINTEGRATE AGAIN BY MIDDAY AS THE PREVAILING NORTHERLY SURFACE GRADIENT TAKES OVER. SO WILL ALSO UPDATE THE WASATCH FRONT ZONES AGAIN (THIRD TIME THIS MORNING) TO DROP THE SNOW FLURRIES AND BACK OFF ON THE CLOUDINESS FOR THIS AFTERNOON. SLC -33 CDC 577 SANDERS SLC...NONE.
1 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.
A 43-year-old woman from New Hampshire was killed in an avalanche while skiing the backcountry of The Canyons Ski Resort. The avalanche occurred on Square Top Mountain as the woman was skiing with 5 others, but none of them were injured.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avalanche, Wasatch Mountains South of I80 | 2001-02-27 | 43 | Female | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, February 2001
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5276433.