A skier was caught, carried, and killed by an avalanche in Hell's Canyon, in the |Snowbasin backcountry.
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.
A skier was caught, carried, and killed by an avalanche in Hell's Canyon, in the |Snowbasin backcountry.
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 24, 10:22 AM MST, 2 hours 38 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 1022 AM MST SUN JAN 24 2010 .SYNOPSIS...HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT ALONG THE WEST COAST WILL SLIDE EAST INTO UTAH EARLY THIS WEEK. THE NEXT PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM WILL WEAKEN CONSIDERABLY AS IT REACHES UTAH MIDWEEK. && .DISCUSSION...THE LAST OF THE PRECIP ACROSS NRN UTAH THE WEEK-LONG PRECIP EVENT SHOULD END LATER TODAY ACROSS THE NRN WASATCH/WRN UINTA RANGES. SHALLOW AND MOIST UNSTABLE LAYER COMBINED WITH A FAVORABLE NW FLOW DRIVING A WEAK OROGRAPHIC PRECIP EVENT THIS MORNING. CONTINUED TOP DOWN WARMING/DRYING AHEAD OF THE APPROACHING WEST COAST RIDGE SHOULD BRING AN END TO ACCUMULATING SNOWS BY EARLY THIS EVENING. TEMPS WILL PLUNGE THIS EVENING UNDER THIN HIGH CLOUDS AND A STABLE AIRMASS. INCREASING OPAQUE CLOUD COVER SHOULD LEVEL MIN TEMPS OFF LATE TONIGHT...AND KEEP FOG FORMATION TO A MINIMUM LATE TONIGHT/MONDAY MORNING. PLENTY OF UPSTREAM MOISTURE WILL MOVE THROUGH THE INTERIOR WEST POSITION MONDAY/TUESDAY. WEAKENING SHORTWAVES MOVING THROUGH THE RIDGE COMBINED WITH THIS MOISTURE COULD GENERATE LIGHT PRECIP...BUT THE AREAL COVERAGE OF ACCUMULATING SNOW LOOKS TO BE MINIMAL AT BEST. CLOUD COVER WILL SERVE TO LEVEL OFF OVERNIGHT MINS AND TO INHIBIT FOG FORMATION AGAIN MONDAY NIGHT/TUESDAY MORNING. THE MIDWEEK SPLITTING TROUGH REMAINS A TOUGH CALL AS TO HOW MUCH AND WHERE THE BEST THREAT FOR PRECIP WILL EXIST WEDNESDAY/EARLY THURSDAY. THE LATEST VERSIONS OF THE GFS/ECMWF HAVE NOT TAKEN THE SRN PORTION OF THE SPLIT QUITE AS FAR SOUTH. SRN UTAH IS BACK IN PLAY IN TERMS OF THE SRN MOUNTAINS RECEIVING SIGNIFICANT SNOWS ONCE AGAIN. THE NRN HALF OF THE STATE STILL UNDER WEAK DYNAMIC LIFT FROM THE NRN PORTION OF THE SPLIT...AND UNLIKELY TO SEE MUCH IN THE WAY OF SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL. HIGH AMPLITUDE RIDGE ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN LATE IN THE WEEK SHOULD KEEP CLOUDS WEST OF THE STATE...ALLOWING FOR FOG/HAZE FORMATION AND VERY COLD TEMPS IN THE SNOW COVERED VALLEYS BY FRIDAY. WILL BE ISSUING AN UPDATE SHORTLY TO END ALL REMAINING WARNINGS AND TO ADJUST SOME MAX TEMPS DOWNWARD TODAY. && .AVIATION...CEILINGS AT THE SLC TERMINAL ARE EXPECTED TO DISSIPATE BETWEEN 19Z AND 21Z TODAY...WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE THAT CEILINGS REMAIN INTACT THROUGH 22Z. MORE CLOUDS WILL MOVE INTO THE AREA OVERNIGHT...WITH CEILINGS LIKELY TO DROP BELOW 7000FT AGL AGAIN BETWEEN 11Z AND 14Z MONDAY. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL 11 AM SUNDAY FOR UTZ007-UTZ008-UTZ009. WY...NONE. && PUBLIC...CONGER AVIATION...SCHOENING FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM NOAA/S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE VISIT... HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/SALTLAKECITY (ALL LOWER CASE) FOR FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION VISIT... HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/SALTLAKECITY/GENERAL/AFD_FAQS.PHP (ALL LOWER CASE)
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 505 AM MST SUN JAN 24 2010 UTZ001>016-019>021-517-518-WYZ021-251300- 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- 505 AM MST SUN JAN 24 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE WESTERN TWO THIRDS OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SNOW SHOWERS...LOCALLY HEAVY AT TIMES...WILL PERSIST ACROSS THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS BEFORE TAPERING OFF EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD ACROSS THE REGION BEFORE THE NEXT SPLITTING STORM SYSTEM IMPACTS THE AREA TUESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY 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.
Following several days of fresh snowfall, a skier triggered an avalanche just out-of-bounds of the Snowbasin resort, in the area known as Hell's Canyon. He was caught, carried, and partially buried by the avalanche. By the time other skiers and rescuers got to him, he had already passed away.
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 I-80 North | 2010-01-24 | 42 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, January 2010
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: 210909.