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Forecast for the Logan Area Mountains

Toby Weed
Issued by Toby Weed for
Friday, March 1, 2013

The snow is stable in most areas, avalanches are unlikely, and the danger is LOW (or level 1) in the backcountry around Logan today. Even so, you could still trigger dangerous avalanches in some exceptional steep terrain, and warming this weekend will cause a rising danger of wet or heat related avalanches anywhere the surface snow becomes saturated. The danger of wet avalanches may rise to MODERATE (level 2) with warming this afternoon.. Use normal caution, and watch for unstable, moist, or saturated snow in steep terrain.

Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
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Special Announcements

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Weather and Snow

The Tony Grove Snotel at 8400' reports an inch of new snow with 2/10ths of an inch of water in the last 24 hours. It's a balmy 26 degrees, and the site reports 61 inches of total snow, containing 63% of average water for the date. I'm reading 20 degrees at the 9700' CSI Logan Peak weather station, and there's a light northwest wind averaging in the single digits. You still might find some nice powdery snow in shady terrain today, but the powerful late February sun caused crusts to develop on east through southwest facing slopes and on the flats at all elevations...

Recent Avalanches

No significant avalanches have been reported recently in the Logan Zone.

Here's a link to our updated Avalanche List.

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

The snow is stable in most areas, and avalanches are generally unlikely today. But, remember that a Low danger doesn't mean No danger, and there are some potential exceptions:

  • Isolated persistent slab avalanches up to 3 feet deep, failing on weak sugary faceted snow or basal layer depth hoar are unlikely but remain possible in outlying areas with shallow and poor snow structure.
  • You might trigger stiff wind slabs or cornice falls in steep drifted upper elevation terrain. These appeared welded in place in the Providence Canyon area yesterday, but there are likely to be suspect drifted areas in the Logan Zone.
  • Warming will probably cause a rising danger of loose wet avalanches, especially on sunny lower and mid elevation slopes. If the air temperature rises enough down low, the danger of wet activity could spread into shady slopes where the existing snow is soft, cold, and rotten in places.
  • Warming this weekend could also cause an increase in danger of persistent slab avalanches in areas with poor snow structure due to increased creep rates and slab softening.
Avalanche Problem #2
Wet Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Warming may cause a Moderate danger of wet avalanches by midday on some slopes if the surface snow becomes damp or saturated.

Additional Information

We'll see mostly cloudy skies today along with chance of a little snow this morning. Clouds will thin this afternoon allowing the sun to warm things up, and high temperatures at 9000' will likely climb into the mid thirties.. Expect light west-northwest winds. Mountain temperatures will drop into the mid twenties overnight under partly cloudy skies. It'll be mostly sunny and fairly warm in the mountains tomorrow, with 9000' temperatures around 40 degrees and light and variable winds. Clouds and southwest winds will increase Saturday night and snow is forecast for Sunday, with 2 to 4 inches of accumulation possible.

Check out the new Logan Mountain Weather page...

General Announcements

For a printer friendly version of this advisory click HERE

Remember your information from the backcountry can save lives. If you see or trigger an avalanche, or see anything else we should know about, please send us your snow and avalanche observations. You can also call us at 801-524-5304 or email by clicking HERE. In the Logan Area you can contact Toby Weed directly at 435-757-7578.

I will update this advisory on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday mornings by around 7:30...

This advisory is produced by the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. It describes only general avalanche conditions and local variations always exist.

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