LOW: The snow in the backcountry is stable and avalanches are unlikely. Shallow, early season snow conditions exist. Use normal caution.
Please join us for our 14th annual "Pray for Snow" fundraiser/party, Thursday, December 7 at 6 PM. This year's new location is at the new Cache Venue, 119 South Main St in downtown Logan. Go HERE for advance tickets and more information.
Weather and SnowThe Tony Grove Snotel at 8400' reports 1" of new snow and 27°F this morning. There's 19" of total snow containing 105% of average SWE (Snow Water Equivalent). It's 21°F at 9700' on Logan Peak at the CSI weather station, with west southwest wind around 12 mph and gusts to around 30 mph.
Record warmth around Thanksgiving melted a good deal of snow across the zone, and with a solid refreeze, it turned the remaining snow rock hard. I found variable surface conditions with pockets of smooth dust-on-crust near Tony Grove Lake yesterday. Shallow, early season snow conditions exist, and hitting rocks or stumps is a significant hazard. Travel cautiously and keep your speed down. The Tony Grove Road is not maintained for wheeled travel in the winter.
Recent AvalanchesOn 11/28/17, we noticed piles of wet debris is West Miller Bowl from loose wet sluffs that occurred during the record warmth last week.
West Miller Bowl, 11/28/17
The rock solid refrozen November snow under today's dusting is stable, and avalanches are unlikely. Shallow wind slabs consisting of stiff drifted snow exist on some exposed upper elevation slopes. I was able to create cracking, a few inches deep in some obvious drifts yesterday, but none were very sensitive or threatening. Even so, a ride in even a small avalanche could be particularly dangerous due to potential for being raked through rocks or deadfall below. The underlying snow is so hard and slick that you should avoid very steep terrain or use an ice ax to reduce the hazard of uncontrolled slides or falls on steep slopes.
A westerly flow will prevail today through tonight. Warmer southwesterly flow will develop Saturday, followed by a decent looking colder storm system for Sunday into Monday. Snow showers may continue this morning, with little in the way of accumulation expected. The rest of the day will be partly cloudy with a high temperature at 8500' around 34°F and 6 to 9 mph southwest wind. It'll be partly cloudy tonight, with a low temperature of 26°F and increasing southwest wind, 10 to 15 mph. Tomorrow will be mild and breezy in advance of Sunday's storm. It'll be mostly sunny with high temperatures near 40°F and 15 mph southwest wind.
A progressive trough will push a relatively strong cold front through the region on Sunday. The airmass will be cold enough to produce snow down to most valley floors Sunday afternoon and evening. However, accumulations in many valley areas are expected to be generally light given the fast-moving nature of the front, but the setup should favor good orographic precipitation for northwest-facing slopes and bench areas.
We are offering a Backcountry 101 Avalanche Class on December 12 and 14 in the Logan Area Backcountry.
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Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you shop from Backcountry.com or REI: Click this link for Backcountry.com or this link to REI, shop, and they will donate a percent of your purchase price to the UAC. Both offer free shipping (with some conditions) so this costs you nothing!
Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you buy or sell on ebay - set the Utah Avalanche Center as a favorite non-profit in your ebay account here and click on ebay gives when you buy or sell. You can choose to have your seller fees donated to the UAC, which doesn't cost you a penny.
Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please help us out by submitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can also call us at 801-524-5304, email by clicking HERE, or include #utavy in your tweet or Instagram.
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.
