An avalanche in a popular snowmobiling area killed one man.
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 episode as NWS SLC wrote it up.
An avalanche in a popular snowmobiling area killed one man.
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 Dec 25, 10:20 AM MST, 5 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 1020 AM MST TUE DEC 25 2007 .SYNOPSIS...A PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE AWAY FROM THE AREA TODAY. ANOTHER STORM IS EXPECTED FOR WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT. COLD TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN IN PLACE THROUGH THE WEEK. && .DISCUSSION...UPPER TROUGH ALONG THE UT/CO LATE THIS MORNING WILL CONTINUE EAST INTO THE SRN/CNTRL ROCKIES. A SHORTWAVE RIDGE WILL SETTLE OVER THE FORECAST AREA THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING...BRINGING AN END TO ANY LINGERING PRECIP. THE NEXT PACIFIC TROUGH...CURRENTLY ALONG THE PACIFIC NW COAST...WILL DIG HARD TO THE SE INTO THE BASIN LATER TONIGHT/WEDNESDAY. THIS FEATURE WILL DRAW VERY COLD AIR ALOFT INTO THE BASIN BY WEDNESDAY. CONDITIONAL INSTABILITY UP TO AROUND 500MB WOULD SUGGEST TO POSSIBILITY OF SIGNIFICANT PRECIP AS THE TROUGH MOVES THROUGH THE AREA WEDNESDAY. QPFS IN THE MODELS ARE QUITE LOW...BUT THIS WOULD BE EXPECTED IN THIS COLD AN AIRMASS. EVEN THOUGH A WELL DEFINED SURFACE FRONT IS NOT EXPECTED AHEAD OF THE TROUGH...STILL THINK THAT SEVERAL INCHES OF LOW DENSITY SNOW A GOOD BET FOR THE MOUNTAINS AND SOME OF THE WRN VALLEYS THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING. LOW AMPLITUDE UPPER RIDGE ACROSS THE CNTRL/ERN PACIFIC WILL MAINTAIN A FAIRLY STRONG NW FLOW INTO THE WRN CONUS LATE IN THE WEEK...AND ON THROUGH THE COMING WEEKEND. EMBEDDED SHORTWAVES WILL CLIP THE NRN THIRD OF UTAH DURING THAT PERIOD. EACH AND ANY ONE OF THESE FEATURES WILL HAVE ENOUGH MOISTURE AND WEAK DYNAMICS TO GENERATE AT LEAST SOME LIGHT SNOW FOR THE MOUNTAINS AND FAR NRN VALLEYS THROUGH THE WEEKEND. THE NEXT COLD/ENERGETIC PACIFIC TROUGH WOULD HIT THE AREA LATE SUNDAY/MONDAY. THE 12Z GFS MODEL HAS BACKED OFF SOMEWHAT... MAINTAINING THE STRONG NW FLOW THROUGH AREA AHEAD OF THE STRONG UPPER RIDGE IT BUILDS INTO THE AREA THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. DEVIATIONS FROM PREVIOUS MODEL RUNS NOT UNCOMMON WITH THE GFS OF LATE...SO NO PLANS RIGHT NOT TO MAKE ANY CHANGES EARLY NEXT WEEK. WILL LET ALL EXISTING WARNINGS/ADVISORIES RUN THEIR COURSE THIS MORNING. AN UPDATE WILL BE ISSUED LATER IN THE MORNING. && .AVIATION...STABLE NORTHERLY FLOW WILL EXIST ACROSS THE KSLC TERMINAL THROUGH 00Z. CLOUDS WILL RETURN TONIGHT AHEAD OF THE NEXT PACIFIC STORM SCHEDULED TO ARRIVE ON WEDNESDAY. CIGS TO REMAIN WELL ABOVE 7K THIS EVENING...THEN DROP RAPIDLY AS THE STORM APPROACHES ON WEDNESDAY MORNING. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 4 PM TUESDAY FOR UTZ019. WY...NONE. && CONGER FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM NOAA/S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE VISIT... HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/SALTLAKECITY (ALL LOWER CASE)
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 613 AM MST TUE DEC 25 2007 UTZ001>016-019>021-517-518-WYZ021-261300- CACHE VALLEY/UTAH PORTION-NORTHERN WASATCH FRONT- SALT LAKE AND TOOELE VALLEYS-SOUTHERN WASATCH FRONT- GREAT SALT LAKE DESERT AND MOUNTAINS-WASATCH MOUNTAIN VALLEYS- WASATCH MOUNTAINS I-80 NORTH-WASATCH MOUNTAINS SOUTH OF I-80- WESTERN UINTA MOUNTAINS-WASATCH PLATEAU/BOOK CLIFFS- WESTERN UINTA BASIN-CASTLE COUNTRY-SAN RAFAEL SWELL- SANPETE/SEVIER VALLEYS-WEST CENTRAL UTAH-SOUTHWEST UTAH- UTAHS DIXIE AND ZION NATIONAL PARK-SOUTH CENTRAL UTAH- GLEN CANYON RECREATION AREA/LAKE POWELL-CENTRAL MOUNTAINS- SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS-SOUTHWEST WYOMING- 613 AM MST TUE DEC 25 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE WESTERN TWO THIRDS OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A STORM SYSTEM WILL EXIT THE AREA THIS MORNING. SNOW MAY LINGER THROUGH THE MORNING HOURS ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE OUTLOOK AREA...HOWEVER A DRYING TREND IS EXPECTED BY EARLY AFTERNOON. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY AN UNSETTLED WEATHER PATTERN WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE OUTLOOK AREA THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK. THE NEXT STORM SYSTEM TO IMPACT THE REGION WILL PASS THROUGH THE AREA WEDNESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY NIGHT. SNOW CAN BE EXPECTED ACROSS MUCH OF THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF UTAH...AS WELL AS MANY VALLEY LOCATIONS ACROSS NORTHERN AND CENTRAL UTAH. ADDITIONAL WEATHER DISTURBANCES WILL TRACK ACROSS THE AREA FRIDAY AND SATURDAY...AS WELL AS EARLY NEXT WEEK. THIS WILL RESULTING IN ADDITIONAL THREATS FOR SNOWFALL ACROSS THE OUTLOOK AREA. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM NOAA/S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE VISIT... HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/SALTLAKECITY (ALL LOWER CASE)
1 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.
A 53 year-old man, who was snowmobiling with his family, was caught in an avalanche, buried by the snow, and died before being found. The avalanche occurred at a common spot for snowmobilers near Windy Ridge called Superbowl. No other injuries were reported.
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, Western Uinta Mountains | 2007-12-25 | 53 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, December 2007
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: 69491.