Utah, 2002Avalanche in Utah, January 7, 2002
January 7, 2002 · NWS SLC · 1 event in 1 county or zone
1 avalanche, as filed by the National Weather Service.
- Deaths
- 0
- 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 7, 9:40 AM MST, 2 hours 20 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 7, 9:40 AM MST, 2 hours 20 minutes before
UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT
940 AM MST MON JAN 7 2002
.SYNOPSIS...HIGH PRESSURE WILL MOVE OVERHEAD TODAY BRINGING A MILD
AND DRIER AIRMASS. THE HIGH WILL SHIFT EAST TUESDAY AS SOUTHWEST
FLOW DEVELOPS. A WEAK SYSTEM WILL BRUSH THE NORTH LATE TUESDAY NIGHT
AND WEDNESDAY.
.DISCUSSION...RIDGE ALOFT WITH SIGNIFICANT WARMING ALOFT NOW MOVING
INTO THE AREA. SOME VALLEYS STILL STUCK IN THE FOG AND LOW
CLOUDS...BUT MUCH OF THE STATE WILL SEE PARTLY CLOUDY TODAY WITH
SOME AREAS MIXING OUT...ESPECIALLY IN THE SOUTH.
TWO BIGGEST FORECAST CHALLENGES TODAY ARE THE EXTENT OF MIXING
TUESDAY IN THE INCREASING SOUTHWEST FLOW....AND THEN HOW TO HANDLE
THE BAROCLINIC ZONE/COLD FRONT TUESDAY NIGHT/WED. LATEST ETA BRINGS
FRONT TO BETWEEN OGDEN AND SLC AND THEN AS CLOSED LOW FORMS OVER NV
THE FRONT NEVER COMES THROUGH SLC. THIS IS QUITE DIFFERENT FROM
PREVIOUS RUNS SO WILL WAIT AND SEE 12Z AVN AND 18Z ETA BEFORE
DECIDING HOW TO HANDLE THIS.
SLC -00 CDC 000 DUNN
.SLC...NONE.
Avalanche, W Summit T Nw/Se Salt Lake/Wasatch X Sc/E Utah/P X E Juab/X Nw San Pete
- When
- January 7, 12:00 PM MST to 1:00 PM MST
- Where
- W Summit T Nw/Se Salt Lake/Wasatch X Sc/E Utah/P X E Juab/X Nw San Pete forecast zone
- Reported by
- PARK/FOREST SERVICE
Avalanches closed the roads in Big Cottonwood and American Fork Canyons. The slide in Big Cottonwood Canyon covered the road with debris up to 10 feet deep. In American Fork Canyon, multiple slides covered the road up to 5 feet deep, closing the road for several days.
- 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.
- Flooding in Washington, January 7 to 10, 2002$200,000 · 7 events
- Heavy Snow in Vermont, January 7, 2002$50,000 · 2 events
- Heavy Snow in Ohio, January 7, 2002$15,000 · 1 event
- Heavy Snow in Pennsylvania, January 7, 20028 events
- Heavy Snow in New Jersey, January 7, 20025 events
- High Wind in Montana, January 7, 200252 kt wind · 3 events
- Heavy Snow in Ohio, January 7, 20022 events
- High Wind in Wyoming, January 7 to 8, 200258 kt wind · 2 events
- High Wind in Montana, January 7, 200256 kt wind · 1 event
- High Wind in Montana, January 7, 200257 kt wind · 1 event
- High Wind in Montana, January 7, 20021 event
- High Wind in Montana, January 7, 200261 kt wind · 1 event
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: 5324152.