Utah, 2002

Avalanche in Utah, January 31, 2002

January 31, 2002 · NWS SLC · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 avalanche, as filed by the National Weather Service.

The toll

Deaths
1
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

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.

What forecasters said that day

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 Jan 31, 10:00 AM MST, 4 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 31, 10:00 AM MST, 4 hours before
UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT
1000 AM MST THU JAN 31 2002

.SYNOPSIS...A SOMEWHAT MOIST NORTHERLY FLOW ALOFT WILL PERSIST OVER
THE AREA TODAY. THE AIRMASS WILL DRY TONIGHT AS THE FLOW SHIFTS
TO WESTERLY. A WEAK PACIFIC SYSTEM WILL MOVE ACROSS THE NORTH
FRIDAY NIGHT AND EARLY SATURDAY.

.DISCUSSION...WARM AIR ADVECTION GENERATING MID LEVEL CLOUDS OVER
WESTERN VALLEYS AND NORTHERN MOUNTAINS THIS MORNING.  SOME FLURRIES
COMING OUT OF THESE CLOUDS AS A WEAK UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVES
THROUGH THE FORECAST AREA THIS MORNING.  EXPECT THESE CLOUDS TO
GRADUALLY DISSIPATE THROUGH THE DAY.  RIDGE AXIS TO MOVE THROUGH
TONIGHT AHEAD OF A SPLITTING STORM FOR FRIDAY NIGHT.  THIS MAY
PRODUCE SOME MOUNTAIN FLURRIES...BUT NOT MUCH ELSE.

ONLY UPDATES WILL BE TO ADD ACCUMULATIONS TO SOME NORTHERN ZONES.

SLC 1--  CDC -00  NELSON

.SLC...NONE.

Event by event

1 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.

Avalanche, C E Summit/X Ne Wasatch/N Duchesne

When
January 31, 2:00 PM MST
Where
C E Summit/X Ne Wasatch/N Duchesne forecast zone
Deaths
1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by
FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD

An avalanche claimed the life of a 29-year-old Heber City man. The avalanche occurred in the Western Uinta Mountains east of Oakley, near Windy Ridge. Six people were skiing in two separate groups when a 5-foot-deep snow slab broke off from the slope above just before 2 pm. The victim was buried under 4 feet of snow for 15 minutes before being dug out. He died of massive head and neck trauma, not suffocation, according to paramedics on the scene.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

EventDateAgeSexWhereKind
Avalanche, C E Summit/X Ne Wasatch/N Duchesne2002-01-3129MaleOutside/Open AreasDirect

What these are

Avalanche
A mass of snow sliding down a mountainside that caused a death, an injury or damage.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Utah in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, January 2002

Sources

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: 5324226.