There is a level 3 or Considerable danger in the backcountry, and dangerous avalanche conditions persist in steep upper and mid-elevation terrain. Conditions have stabilized a bit since the active weekend, but you are still likely to trigger very dangerous and perhaps deadly, large hard deep slab avalanches on many steep slopes. I've included a few pockets with a level 4 or High danger, since any triggered avalanche in drifted upper elevation terrain is likely to be huge and potentially unsurvivable, and heavy snow and strong winds today will cause a rising danger once again. Careful snowpack evaluation, cautious route-finding, and conservative decision-making will be essential in the backcountry today, and you should continue to avoid steep slopes and obvious or historic avalanche paths.. You'll find safer conditions in lower angled terrain, on south facing slopes, and at lower elevations, but triggered avalanches are still possible in most areas.

Heavy snowfall and increasing westerly winds today will cause a rising danger in the backcountry today. It's 27 degrees up at the 8400' Tony Grove Snotel this morning, and there is 73 inches of total snow on the ground containing 83% of average water for the date. The station picked up an amazing 8 inches of water between 18th and the 21st. The CSI Logan Peak weather station at 9700' reports 22 degrees and the wind sensor is reporting fairly light southerly winds this morning, but it could be rimed. The Hwy 89 Logan Summit weather station reported strong west winds overnight, with gusts of over 50mph and 30+ mph averages, but they've mellowed a bit this morning.

You can find nice smooth and fast, shallow powder conditions on gentle slopes in the backcountry, and there's no need the play in the much more dangerous steep terrain. The mountains around Logan picked up a few feet of snow late last week and over the weekend. The heavy wet snow from Thursday has set up and riding conditions are good, with fairly supportable although deep snow, and one can certainly get around on a sled...

A couple large and extensive natural avalanche cycles occurred in the Logan Area Thursday and Saturday nights, and there were hundreds of large avalanches on steep slopes across the zone and the mountains of Northern Utah. While many many slopes avalanched already in the last couple days, many did not, and slide paths that ran on Thursday night are completely filled in again and suspect. Riders had a very close call up in Monte Cristo on Tuesday after two riders on Whiskey Hill triggered a 7'deep and 200' wide hard slab. Luckily they escaped with only minor sled damage.... No new avalanches were reported in the Logan Zone since the active weekend.. But, we experienced a couple audible collapses and a party of sledders reported the same up in Providence Canyon yesterday

(go to our current conditions page for more details on local activity and reports of other recent avalanches in Utah)

The mild and moist westerly or zonal flow kicks in this morning and significant accumulations of heavy snow and fairly strong west winds are forecast. Storminess should continue through tonight and 1 to 2 feet of heavy snow is likely to accumulate at upper elevations by Friday morning. The additional accumulations and drifting will probably cause the danger to rise back up to High or level 4 by tomorrow, and despite a generally fair weather forecast for the weekend, dangerous avalanche conditions are likely to persist.

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Please send us your observations from the backcountry especially if you see or trigger an avalanche, but also even if you don't.. go to avalanche and snow observations. You can also call me directly at 435-757-7578 or leave us a message at our office, 801-524-5304.... And, you can always send us a simple email by clicking HERE

I will update this advisory by around 7:30 in the morning on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.....

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.