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.

                        The Utah Avalanche Center Home page is: http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/

                                          (click on) Utah Avalanche Center in Logan for our home page                                    

Logan area Avalanche advisory

Thursday February 9, 2006

Hello, this is Toby Weed of the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your Logan area backcountry avalanche and mountain weather advisory.  It's Thursday February 9th at 9:00 pm.  This advisory is brought to you in part by the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center in Logan with help from avalanchetools.com .

Current Conditions:

  The intense sunshine and strong winds destroyed the fine powder on many slopes in the region, but you can still find re-crystallized, powder-like snow in sheltered shady terrain.  A north wind tonight will pull cold air right out of Canada, and mountain temperatures will be much colder on Friday than the past few days.  Sunny slopes will bare a stout and slick sun-crust which may not soften up much.  Un-controlled slides or falls may pose more danger on some slopes than avalanches.

Avalanche Conditions:

As I descended from the backcountry this evening, I watched a potent north wind picking up settled snow and sending spindly plumes swirling off of exposed peaks.  Surely, stiff wind-drifts are building up on some steep slopes on the lee of ridge-tops even as I write this.  Actually, much of the airborne snow will evaporate before it touches down again.  Tomorrow, most of the fresh wind-drifts will be solid and well-adhered to the underlying snow surface.  But a few may build up overnight on weak small-grained sugary or faceted snow, which now makes up the snow surface in many areas.  Since the winds are from the north, slopes facing the southern quarter of the compass will be the most suspect.   Although unlikely, you might be able to trigger such a drift on a very steep slope on Friday.  The problem with solid drifts or hard slabs is that they sometimes allow you to get well out on them before releasing.

Bottom Line:

Avalanches are unlikely and the danger is LOW on most slopes in the backcountry.  You might find exceptions and possibly trigger isolated avalanches on very steep slopes with stiff deposits of recently wind-drifted snow, most likely near ridge-tops.

Mountain Weather:

Mountain temperatures will rebound this weekend as the ridge rebuilds over the region.  The stagnate weather pattern will drastically change next week with significant snowfall possible beginning Tuesday or Wednesday.

General Information: 

We will offer a free avalanche awareness talk open to the public at the Directive on Wednesday evening, February 15th at 7:00.

For a list of recent avalanches in  the regional backcountry go to Avalanche List.  Snow nerds, check out the new Snow Profiles page.  Check out our Images Page for pictures of recent local avalanches.

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...

This advisory will expire on Friday night.  I will update it on Saturday morning by about 7:00.

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.