Wasatch-Cache National Forest  In partnership with:  Utah State Parks and Recreation, Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center-Logan, and Utah State University College of Natural Resources.

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Logan area Avalanche advisory

Special Update

Tuesday January 31, 2006

Hello and good morning, this is Toby Weed of the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your Logan area backcountry avalanche and mountain weather advisory.  It's Tuesday January 31st at 7:00 am.  This advisory is brought to you in part by the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center in Logan with help from Black Diamond.

Bottom Line:

There's a CONSIDERABLE danger and avalanches are possible on many wind-drifted slopes steeper than about 35 degrees in the backcountry. Natural avalanches are possible and human-triggered avalanches, potentially large and dangerous on some slopes.  There is a MODERATE danger, with avalanches possible on steep slopes in sheltered terrain and on lower elevation slopes with rain-saturated surface snow.

Outlook:

Continuing heavy snowfall and sustained periods of strong westerly winds threaten to overload buried weak layers.  The avalanche danger is likely to rise and become more widespread in the region as the warm and moist weather-pattern continues through Thursday.

Current Conditions:

The Tony Grove Snotel site once again did well compared to the rest of the state.  With 120 inches of total snow on the ground, the station reported about a foot of heavy new snow containing 1.4 inches of water in the last 24 hours.  Meanwhile, the Campbell weather station on Logan Peak recorded southwest winds averaging around 25 mph for about 9 hrs on Monday.  The winds shifted around from the northwest with frontal passage around midnight and began diminishing.  Mountain temperatures dropped 5 or 6 degrees from their mild last night's highs, which were close to freezing at 8000'.

Avalanche Conditions:

 I noticed a couple sizable natural avalanches after the crazy mountain winds on Sunday.  Observers reported widespread drifting and pour visibility yesterday, and I couldn't see much of anything either. With sustained winds, warm temperatures and copious snowfall, the current weather pattern is perfect for forming dense slabs in avalanche starting zones.  We've been noticing some mid-pack weak layers buried intact by last week's nice powder, and I don't like it when warm heavy snow falls on cold light fluff. 

Today is a good one to use elevated caution in the backcountry.  Please let me know what you see if you head out....

Mountain Weather:

We'll get a brief break today with a possibility of decent visibility. Snowfall will restart tonight and be heavy by morning, with strong southwest winds accompanying.... This productive pattern will continue through Thursday.  Another storm is possible over the coming weekend.

General Information: 

For a list of our upcoming classes and awareness talks, go to our Education page . For a list of recent avalanches in  the regional backcountry go to Avalanche List.  Snow nerds, check out the new Snow Profiles page.  You may enjoy our Images Page.

Please send backcountry observations to [email protected] or leave a message at 755-3638, especially if you see or trigger an avalanche in the backcountry. We really want to hear from you, even if you think your observation is unimportant.    The information you provide may save lives...

I will update this advisory before this time tomorrow morning.

The information in this advisory is from the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content.  This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur. 

National Weather Service - Salt Lake City - Snow.