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

Sunday February 26, 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 Sunday February 26th 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 Equipment.

Current Conditions:

Spring-like weather will continue today with temperatures expected to get into the mid 40's at 9,500'.  Currently, it's in the mid-20's at most elevations with a southwest wind around 25 mph.  Some clouds may stream in this afternoon and winds will crank up a bit to near 30 mph.  Current snow conditions are like two sides of a coin. On shady northerly facing slopes you can find some nice winter-like settled powder, flip the coin over to the southerly facing sunny slopes and you have supportable crusts with some spring-like snow as they soften.  In between these two extremes there is a wide variety of crusts, and soggy mush.  It would be good to remember items like skin-wax and sunscreen today.

Snow and Avalanche Conditions:

In general, the snowpack is showing good signs of stability and this morning avalanches will be unlikely on most steep slopes.  The big "however" is that with daytime warming the avalanche danger will rise on steep slopes with saturated snow.  The first slopes to warm up will be the low and mid-elevation sunny slopes where soggy snow from yesterday may not have completely refrozen overnight.  Upper elevation sunny slopes should also warm up; however the wind may help keep the snow cool on exposed slopes.  With temperatures expected to be about 10 degrees warmer than yesterday the cold snow on many shady slopes at low and mid-elevations could warm up and get soggy today as well, especially if we get some greenhouse effect from any clouds.  So if you find yourself sinking into soggy snow, or begin to see signs like roller balls it is time to move off or out from underneath steep slopes.  Lastly, although there is not a lot of snow to move around, the southwest winds may get strong enough tomorrow to form some shallow, sensitive wind drifts near ridges and terrain features such as sub-ridges and gully walls. 

Bottom Line:

There's a LOW danger on most slopes in the backcountry this morning and avalanches are generally unlikely, especially in sheltered shady terrain.  With daytime heating the danger of loose wet avalanches will rise to MODERATE on steep slopes with saturated surface snow. 

Mountain Weather:

It will be another warm day with 9,000' temperatures forecast to approach 45 degrees.  Skies will become partly cloudy this afternoon with increasing southwest winds.  Monday should be mostly cloudy with strong southwest winds and some snow flurries possible above 8,000' and rain forecast below 8,000'.  The first in series of storms should arrive Tuesday with colder air and a brief shot of snow.  A more significant storm is possible later in the week

General Information: 

If you're confused by some of this avalanche terminology check out the new Glossary. 

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.  I will update it again Monday 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.