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Forecast for the Logan Area Mountains

Toby Weed
Issued by Toby Weed for
Thursday, March 17, 2022
Heightened avalanche conditions exist in the backcountry, people could trigger dangerous avalanches, and the overall danger is MODERATE. There are exceptions, and in some areas there is CONSIDERABLE danger on northerly facing upper and mid elevation slopes. In these areas, people could trigger dangerous slab avalanches, up to two feet deep and a couple hundred feet wide, failing on a buried persistent weak layer of faceted snow. Avalanches could be triggered remotely or from a distance. Also, shallow avalanches of wind drifted snow are possible on drifted upper elevation slopes, as are small loose wet avalanches of saturated surface snow in steep sunny terrain steeper than 30°
*Careful snowpack evaluation, cautious route-finding, and conservative decision making are essential for backcountry travel.
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
Learn how to read the forecast here
Special Announcements
Thanks to the generous support of our local resorts and Ski Utah, discount lift tickets are now available. Support the UAC while you ski at the resorts this season. Tickets are available HERE.
Weather and Snow
Heightened avalanche conditions exist in the backcountry, and we're still finding buried layers of weak faceted snow on slopes at all elevations across the zone. Even so, snow stability appears to be pretty good in most places. Unfortunately at the same time, pockets of unstable snow and dangerous avalanche conditions exist in some areas, mainly on northerly facing upper and mid elevation slopes. Last week, heavy snow overloaded slopes with buried persistent weak layers consisting of sugary faceted snow, and additional accumulation and drifting in the past few days added weight and depth to a developing slab layer. Although not widespread, dangerous avalanche conditions exist on upper and mid elevation slopes with this poor snow structure, and in some places people are likely to trigger dangerous avalanches again today.
The 8400' Tony Grove Snotel reports 19°F, and here is 75 inches of total snow at the site, containing 84% of normal SWE for the date. The 9700' CSI Logan Peak weather station is not updating, but light winds are blowing out of the north on James Peak this morning.
  • Expect mostly sunny skies, with high temperatures at 8500' around 34°F, and 10 mph north winds, veering from the south in the afternoon.
  • Expect mostly cloudy skies tonight, with low temperatures around 19°F, and 7 to 10 mph southwest winds.
  • Mostly sunny skies are expected tomorrow, with high temperatures around 37°F, and 10 to 17 mph southwest winds.
  • Temperatures at upper elevations are expected to rise and be quite warm on Saturday, which could cause elevated wet avalanche problems.
  • Our next chance for snow comes on Sunday, with good potential for several inches of accumulation on upper elevation slopes.
Recent Avalanches
  • Tuesday in Providence Canyon, two people hiking on snowshoes (with snowboards on their backs) observed a couple whumpfs while ascending on a previously created uptrack in the Dog Leg Trees. They turned tail and headed home when they came to pile the fresh avalanche debris crossing the uptrack, and they realized they'd remotely triggered a good sized soft slab avalanche. The 1' deep x 200' wide avalanche on a north facing slope at around 8700' failed on very weak faceted snow, and it was remotely triggered from a quite a distance below.
  • Saturday, skiers triggered a couple sizable soft slab avalanches on the Millville Face in Providence Canyon. The avalanches at around 8600' in elevation on a north facing slope failed on a sugary persistent weak layer. The largest was 12 to 20" deep and around 300' wide.
  • Friday afternoon, a skier was caught and carried around 200' by an avalanche on a southeast facing slope at around 8000' in Rattlesnake Canyon in the Wellsville Mountain Wilderness
The skier who triggered this avalanche yesterday was going so fast they did not even know they had triggered the avalanche until down on the flats at the pick up zone.
A skier deployed his airbag when caught and carried around 200' late Friday afternoon by this avalanche in upper Rattlesnake Canyon in the Wellsville Mountain Wilderness.
Check out all the recent backcountry observations and many recent avalanche reports from across Utah HERE
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Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Last week's heavy snow created a cohesive and harder slab on widespread preexisting layers of very weak faceted snow. In some areas, the overload of heavy new snow was just enough to activate these layers and cause dangerous slab avalanches. More snow fell and drifting occurred in the last few days, which continued to load slopes with poor snow structure. On slopes facing the north half of the compass, people are likely to trigger soft slab avalanches failing on a buried persistent weak layer. Observers in the Logan Zone continue to report signs of instability across the zone, including audible collapsing and cracking.
  • Avalanches could be triggered remotely or from a distance.
  • Shooting cracks and audible collapsing are red flags indicating unstable snow.
An observer triggered these deep shooting cracks yesterday at around 9000' on a northeast facing slope in the Central Bear River Range.
Avalanche Problem #2
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Drifting is gradually overloading slopes with buried persistent weak layers and increasing the depth and weight of a developing slab layer. Slab avalanches of wind drifted snow are possible anywhere drifts formed on steep slopes, but most likely today at upper elevations on northeast, east, and southeast facing slopes.
  • Avoid recent drifts on the lee side of major ridges and in and around terrain features like below cliff bands, gully walls, scoops, and sub-ridges.
Additional Information
  • Now is a great time to practice your avalanche rescue skills. Thanks to the generous support of Northstar, the Franklin Basin Beacon Training Park is up and running. The park is located directly west of the parking lot and is open for anyone to use. All you need is your beacon and probe. Please do not dig up the transmitters.
  • Always follow safe backcountry travel protocols. Go one person at a time in avalanche terrain, while the rest of your party watches from a safe area. (practice anytime while traveling on or under backcountry slopes steeper than 30°)
  • Check your avalanche rescue equipment, change your batteries, and practice often with your backcountry partners.
    Check slope angles, and to avoid avalanche terrain stay off of and out from under slopes steeper than 30° and adjacent slopes. Video Here
General Announcements
Special thank you to Polaris and Northstar...Video Here
Who's up for some free avalanche training? Get a refresher, become better prepared for an upcoming avalanche class, or just boost your skills. Go to https://learn.kbyg.org/ and scroll down to Step 2 for a series of interactive online avalanche courses produced by the UAC.
  • Check out all the upcoming education classes and clinics HERE.
  • Please submit your observations from the backcountry HERE.
This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done. This forecast is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This forecast describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.
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