There is a CONSIDERABLE danger in the backcountry, and dangerous avalanche conditions exist this morning on some drifted slopes steeper than about 35 degrees, mainly on upper elevation slopes exposed to drifting from a north and northwest wind...Dangerous conditions will also develop on sunny slopes due to rapid solar warming, and triggered and natural wet avalanches will become more likely with midday heating. Rapid solar warming could also cause an increase in slab instability on some slopes. Avoid and stay out from under huge ridge-top cornices...

Use conservative decision making, careful route finding, and good travel habits. Training and experience are essential....

The Tony Grove Snotel at 8400' reports 5 inches of water equivalent gain since Sunday....We found about 4 feet of fresh, but somewhat stiff, snow above the obvious dirty crust from our last warm spell between 8000' and 8500' in the Tony Grove Area. A stiffer layer, about 6 inches under the surface powder floated us well and with wide boards, trail breaking and turning conditions felt more like a half-a-foot than 4 feet. This was not the really the case on the sled, and the deep, bottomless-feeling snow was a bit of a challenge. I'm sure we weren't the only ones who lost traction in the deep snow, even with the deep powder tracks, and found themselves wallowing in waist-deep powder digging out a stuck machine. The fact that even flats and small hills were a challenge yesterday kept most of us off the steep and suspect slopes...Most avalanche paths in the region have not yet been tested by human weight....

The wind sensor at the Campbell Scientific weather station at 9700' on Logan Peak reports a 5 to10 mph north wind this morning and it's 6 degrees. Reading 10 degrees up at Tony Grove, where, with 102 inches on the total snow-stake, the station sits with 98% of normal water content for the date.

Yesterday, Wasatch snow safety crews triggered widespread sizable soft slab avalanches yesterday morning, and a few backcountry skiers intentionally triggered some soft wind slabs as well. By afternoon, most of the instability associated with weak layers within the new snow had settled out...

Locally, an observer noticed evidence of a couple fresh natural avalanches in the Wellsville Range yesterday afternoon... Another noted some filled-in evidence of natural activity on the west side of Logan Peak. We also found evidence of some natural activity from early in the storm. With somewhat limited visibility, we did not observe any fresh natural activity in the Centeral Bear River Range.

We'll see mostly sunny conditions today, as a short-lived high pressure system controls the weather pattern. It'll be a fair amount warmer and cloudy tomorrow with a south wind, ahead of the next strong and cold Pacific storm, which will bring yet more (potentially significant) snowfall to our area on Sunday. More unsettled and moist spring weather will follow for next week.

Our "Know before You Go" video is available online..... (click HERE to watch it)

Please let us know what you're seeing in the backcountry, especially if you see or trigger an avalanche, by leaving us a message at (435-)755-3638 or 1-800-662-4140. Or, you can always e-mail us at uac@utahavalanchecenter.org. . Your observations are very important for our program.....

This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

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I will update this advisory by around 7:30 Saturday morning.