Ad
The National Forest Service Logo
icon-add Observation
Forecasts
Logan Ogden Salt Lake Provo Uintas Skyline Moab Abajos Weather Archives How to read the forecast
Observations & Avalanches
Submit Observation NEW - Observations Explorer All Observations Avalanches Fatalities Place Names Map Archives
Education
Avalanche Awareness Develop Skills On-Snow Courses Resources and Tutorials
Events
Store
About
Contact Who we are Core Values Staff Board of Directors Past Forecasters Sponsors Annual Reports Sign In
Blog
icon-add Observation
Donate / Join

Forecast for the Logan Area Mountains

Toby Weed
Issued by Toby Weed for
Friday, December 29, 2017

Areas with dangerous avalanche conditions exist at mid and upper elevations in the backcountry, and large human triggered avalanches are possible on steep slopes.

  • You could still trigger avalanches from a distance or from below.
  • Evaluate snow and terrain carefully, make conservative decisions.
  • Continue to avoid and stay out from under steep hills. Give the snow more time to stabilize.
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
Learn how to read the forecast here
Weather and Snow

The Tony Grove Snotel at 8400' reports 35°F and 44 inches of total snow containing 105% of normal SWE (Snow Water Equivalent). It's 28°F at the 9700' CSI Logan Peak weather station, and the wind sensor is still not reading due to icing. The UDOT Hwy 89 Logan Summit weather station is showing 25 mph northwest wind, with gusts of 43 mph and 39°F. The snow is gradually stabilizing, but it's still quite dangerous on many slopes in the backcountry. Be patient, give steep slopes more time to adjust to the Christmas load before you commit to them.

  • Shallow early season snow conditions exist, and fresh powder is now hiding some big rocks. I've seen several badly damaged sleds in the past couple days. Travel cautiously and keep your speed down.

Recent Avalanches
  • On 12/26/17, a 20-year-old rider was rescued by his party after being caught, carried, mostly buried, and pinned against a tree in Boss Canyon near the Idaho State Line in the Franklin Basin Area. View the Report
  • Riders remote triggered a good sized avalanche in the Rodeo Grounds on the east side of Logan Peak in 12/26/17. A few other remote triggered avalanches were reported in the Providence Canyon Area between Christmas and 12/27. ​
  • Numerous natural avalanches were reported locally between 12/23/17; and 12/26/17, including in the Tony Grove Lake Area, Bunch Grass, the Wellsville Mountain Wilderness, Egan Basin and in the Cub River Area in southeast Idaho.
  • 12/26/17, Four riders were caught and carried and partially buried in an avalanche on Whiskey Hill in the Monte Cristo Area in upper Ogden Canyon. View Report
  • A couple very large avalanches were remote triggered in the Western Uintas, and a rider was completely buried and injured on 12/26/17 in the Chalk Creek Area. Report

Here's a view of the Boss Canyon avalanche crown on a very steep slope in the deep timber.

Ad
Avalanche Problem #1
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Across the Logan Zone, wind slabs formed on weak preexisting snow. Dangerous wind slab avalanche conditions exist in exposed terrain at upper elevations, with natural activity and large avalanches possible. Human triggered avalanches are possible on drifted slopes at all elevations.

  • Wind slabs are now pretty hard in many areas, and these have a nasty tendency to allow people to get out on them before releasing.
  • You could trigger large wind slab avalanches from a distance or below.
  • Wind slabs, consisting of stiffer, drifted snow may be chalky in appearance and might produce hollow sounds.
  • Avoid drifted snow in steep terrain near ridges and in and around terrain features like gullies, saddles, rock bands, scoops, and sub-ridges.
Avalanche Problem #2
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Along with the gift of powder snow, Santa also brought a slab made up of stronger snow that now sits precariously upon widespread weak sugary snow formed during the prolonged December high pressure system. Persistent slab avalanches are possible even in sheltered areas.

  • Pay attention to possible signs of instability like cracking and whumpfing or collapsing.
  • Avalanches might be triggered remotely, from a distance, or worse, from below.
  • A ride in even a small avalanche could be particularly dangerous now due to hard underlying snow and real potential for being dragged through rocks or deadfall below.
Avalanche Problem #3
Wet Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Warmth could cause heightened wet avalanche conditions on sheltered sunny slopes today.

  • Pay attention to signs of wet instability like roller balls and natural sluffs.
  • ​Move off and out from under steep slopes with saturated snow.
Additional Information

High pressure aloft along the west coast will maintain a generally dry and mild westerly flow aloft across much of Utah today. A fast-moving weather disturbance will cross northern Utah and southwest Wyoming Saturday afternoon through Saturday night, with a dry northwest flow returning for the early part of next week.

  • Today will be partly sunny with a high temperature at 8500' around 39°F and 18 to 24 mph west wind with gusts to 38 mph.
  • Tonight will be partly cloudy, with a low temperature around 28°F. It'll be quite breezy with 20 to 24 mph west wind gusting to around 38 mph.
  • Snow is likely tomorrow afternoon, with 1 to 2 inches possible. Expect mostly cloudy skies, with a high temperature around 37°F and 21 to 23 mph west wind.
General Announcements

We're excited to introduce for the 2017/2018 winter the Utah Avalanche Center podcast, hosted by forecaster Drew Hardesty and produced by KUER's Benjamin Bombard. The podcast will include engaging stories, interviews, and lessons learned - all things avalanche to help keep people on top of the snow instead of buried beneath it - and easily found on ITunes, Stitcher, the UAC blog, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Discount lift tickets for Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, Solitude, Deer Valley, Snowbasin, and Beaver Mountain are now available, donated by the resorts to benefit the Utah Avalanche Center. Details and order information here. All proceeds go towards paying for avalanche forecasting and education!

Now is a great time to practice companion rescue techniques with your backcountry partners. Here's our rescue practice video.

Go HERE for a list of UAC classes.

EMAIL ADVISORY: If you would like to get the daily advisory by email you will need to subscribe here.

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 observations. 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.

Next forecast >