Natural avalanche killed a back country skier in Big Cottonwood Canyon.
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.
Natural avalanche killed a back country skier in Big Cottonwood Canyon.
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 21, 9:30 AM MST, 4 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 930 AM MST WED FEB 21 2007 .SYNOPSIS...A MILD SOUTHWEST FLOW WILL GIVE WAY TO A COLD PACIFIC TROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY. && .DISCUSSION...QUICK LOOK AT 12Z NAM AND GFS INDICATES LITTLE CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS MODEL RUNS. A COLD PACIFIC TROUGH MOVES THROUGH THE AREA THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY AS AN OPEN WAVE. COLD FRONT ENTERS EXTREME WESTERN UTAH AFTER MIDNIGHT AND PASSES THROUGH SLC BETWEEN 12Z AND 15Z WITH RAIN CHANGING TO SNOW ON VALLEY FLOORS BEFORE 15Z. THE TIMING OF THIS CHANGEOVER TO SNOW MIGHT SPARE THE MORNING COMMUTE FROM SLC SOUTHWARD...ALTHOUGH OGDEN AREA COULD BE INTO SNOW ABOUT AN HOUR OR SO EARLIER. THIS FROPA IS STILL TWO DAYS AWAY AND EXACT TIMING OF FROPA MAY CHANGE BUT LATELY TREND HAS BEEN TO SLOW DOWN THE SYSTEM JUST A TAD. MOUNTAINS LIKELY TO SEE SNOW DEVELOP IN ADVANCE OF THE FRONT...BUT CURRENT THINKING IS SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATION WILL HOLD OFF UNTIL AFTER SUNRISE FRIDAY. WIND IS THE OTHER MESSAGE WITH THIS STORM. 700 MB WINDS IN THE GFS REACH 60 KNOTS 06Z FRIDAY WITH FAVORABLE SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENT. RIDGETOP GUSTS COULD EASILY BE 80 KNOTS OR MORE OVERNIGHT. WESTERN VALLEY BOUNDARY LAYER MAY DECOUPLE ENOUGH TO KEEP FROM REACHING WIND WARNING CRITERIA OVERNIGHT. WILL PONDER THE SITUATION TODAY IN DECIDING WHETHER TO ISSUE HIGH WIND WATCH OR NOT DEPENDING ON WHETHER WARNING LEVEL WINDS ARE EXPECTED IN THE VALLEYS...NO QUESTION ADVISORY LEVEL WINDS WILL BE REACHED...BUT NOCTURNAL TIMING MAKES WARNING LEVEL A BIT TOUGHER TO REACH IN THE VALLEYS. NO CHANGES TO CURRENT FORECAST AT THIS TIME. && .AVIATION...NO LAKE BREEZE IS EXPECTED TODAY DUE TO LOWER PRESSURE IN IDAHO. SOUTHERLY WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO GRADUALLY INCREASE IN INTENSITY THROUGH TOMORROW AHEAD OF THE NEXT DISTURBANCE. SOUTH WINDS WILL OCCASIONALLY BE GUSTY THIS AFTERNOON. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...NONE. WY...NONE. && DUNN/C.SMITH 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 404 AM MST WED FEB 21 2007 UTZ001>021-WYZ021-221200- 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- CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS-HENRY MOUNTAINS- UTAHS DIXIE AND ZION NATIONAL PARK-SOUTH CENTRAL UTAH- GLEN CANYON RECREATION AREA/LAKE POWELL-SOUTHWEST WYOMING- 404 AM MST WED FEB 21 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE WESTERN TWO THIRDS OF UTAH ALONG WITH FAR SOUTHWEST WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES AND BREEZY SOUTH WINDS WILL PREVAIL ACROSS MUCH OF THE OUTLOOK AREA. THERE IS A SMALL CHANCE FOR LIGHT SNOW ACROSS THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF UTAH NEAR THE IDAHO BORDER. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY A POTENT PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM WILL IMPACT THE AREA FRIDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT. AHEAD OF THIS SYSTEM...SOUTH WINDS WILL INCREASE ACROSS THE OUTLOOK AREA...PARTICULARLY ACROSS THE VALLEYS OF WESTERN UTAH. THE COLD FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH THIS STORM SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO REACH WESTERN UTAH EARLY FRIDAY MORNING...THEN QUICKLY PROGRESS THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE AREA DURING THE DAY. THIS SYSTEM HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BRING WIDESPREAD SNOW...LOCALLY HEAVY...TO THE ENTIRE OUTLOOK AREA WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE LOWEST ELEVATIONS OF SOUTHERN UTAH. THIS SNOW IS EXPECTED TO TAPER OFF FRIDAY NIGHT. .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.
Avalanche killed a back country skier on Gobblers Knob in Big Cottonwood Canyon.
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 | 2007-02-21 | 37 | 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, February 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: 15300.