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UAC-LOGAN   ADVISORY   WEATHER  IMAGES   INFORMATION   EDUCATION   LINKS    UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER
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

Monday February 20, 2006

Good morning, this is Dave Kikkert with the Logan area backcountry avalanche and mountain weather advisory from the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center.  It's President's Day,  February 20th 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 Import Auto.

Current Conditions:

Most mountain locations are in a state of deep-freeze this morning with temperatures in the single digits.  Currently, it's just a single degree above zero on Logan Peak, with a light westerly breeze near 10 mph.  The cold overnight temperatures have preserved the super-light powder that has fallen over the past couple days, with great turning and riding to be found on sheltered northerly and easterly facing slopes.  On southerly facing slopes the new snow is on top of a very hard, slick crust.  If you are traveling on a steep sunny slope be aware that it easy to slip and take a nasty slide on one of these slick crusts.

Snow and Avalanche Conditions:

Sluffing of the new snow was the primary avalanche activity yesterday, and with cold temperatures keeping the surface snow loose and light you can expect to be able to trigger loose sluffs on many steep slopes again today.  Also, you still might be able to trigger one of the small wind slabs formed Saturday.  You will primarily find these drifts near ridgelines in upper elevation terrain, although a few also formed in low and mid-elevation areas as well.  Yesterday, I found that Saturday night's new snow buried and made it difficult to identify where previous wind-drifts had formed. Outside of wind affected terrain there are weak layers in the snowpack, however the snow on top of them remains mostly loose and unconsolidated and there just isn't much of a slab.  Yesterday, with even a little bit of sun I noticed that the snow on sunny slopes began to sluff easily on top of the slick underlying crusts.  If the sun gets out again today I would watch out for wet avalanches on steep sunny slopes.

Bottom Line:

There's a MODERATE danger and it may be possible to trigger an avalanche on some wind-drifted slopes steeper than about 35 degrees in the backcountry.  Outside of wind effected terrain there is generally a LOW avalanche danger.

Mountain Weather:

Low level moisture will lead to a few clouds today, primarily near the highest peaks.  Temperatures will be mostly in the teens with a west wind near 10 mph.  A cold northwesterly flow will develop over our area later today and tomorrow with cold temperatures and partly cloudy skies expected.   A weak disturbance may clip our region Tuesday evening with some negligible snow flurries possible. 

General Information: 

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 by tomorrow morning, Toby Weed will update it again Tuesday evening.

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.