The
Utah Avalanche Center Home page is: http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/
(click on) Utah Avalanche Center in Logan for our home
page
Logan
Hello
and good morning, this is Toby Weed of the
Current Conditions:
There’s still a bit of nice spring powdery snow on upper
elevation north facing slopes in the backcountry, but heating from the intense high-angle
spring sun melted the fresh surface snow down into slush on most other
slopes. Crusts formed on the snow
surface with last night’s freeze, but significantly warmer temperatures today will
soften these quite quickly and you’ll find a few inches of saturated mush in
most areas. It is currently 19 degrees
at the CSI weather station at 9400’ on
Even though you can ride anywhere these days, you should be
sure to keep motor vehicles in terrain that’s open. Riding on public lands designated as “closed
to motor vehicles” or as a National Forest Wilderness only jeopardizes the
future of your sport, and fines for MV trespass have been recently
increased. (MV wilderness trespass photos)
Avalanche Conditions:
It was active yesterday,
with several triggered slab and loose wet avalanches reported in the
backcountry of
Wet
avalanches will become probable on steep slopes as warmth from intense spring sunshine
turns the fresh surface snow into slush.
Exactly when particular slopes will become
active is hard to predict, but this time of year solar warming is very intense
and when the surface snow becomes saturated it is prone to avalanching. You might find even smallish wet avalanches
entraining lots of mass and traveling far.
The
huge cornices in the region now present an obvious danger, especially when it’s
windy or warm. Large cornices may well
still be sensitive to your weight today and may break further back than you
expect. It is always a good idea in the
spring to stay out from under these monsters, (photos from 3-29). Triggered wind slab avalanches are still possible
on steep upper elevation slopes with significant deposits of recently drifted
snow. Drifts should be fairly obvious,
and you should avoid them on steep slopes.
Bottom Line:
There’s a MODERATE avalanche
danger on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees in the backcountry. Warmth from the intense spring sun may cause the
danger to rise to CONSIDERABLE
in some areas, and you are likely to trigger significant wet avalanches on steep
slopes with moist or heat-softened surface snow. Avoid and stay out from under large cornices and
steep slopes with saturated snow.
Mountain Weather: Should be mostly clear and warm today
ahead of a cold front which will move through the region later tonight. It’ll be several degrees warmer in the
mountains than yesterday, but tonight’s storm will cool things down in time for
the weekend. We could pick up two or
three inches of snow overnight and a bit more is possible this weekend, with a
series of small storms continuing into next week.
Check
out the images page for photos of some of this season’s avalanches.
Go to the Avalanche
Encyclopedia if you have any questions about terms I use in
the advisory.
I'm very interested to know what you're seeing out there.
Please e-mail observations to me at [email protected] or leave me a message
at 755-3638, especially if you see or trigger an avalanche in the backcountry.
We keep all observations confidential.
This advisory will expire in 24 hours from the posting time.
The information in this advisory is from the
U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This
advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always
occur.
