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/

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Logan area Avalanche advisory

Monday February 27, 2006

Hello, this is Dave Kikkert with the Logan area backcountry avalanche and mountain weather advisory from the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center.  It's Monday February 27th at 9:30 pm.  This advisory is brought to you in part by the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center in Logan with help from Voile.

Mountain Weather:

A mild southwest flow will continue over our area Tuesday ahead of a cold front slated to arrive Tuesday evening.  The rain/snow line will be at about 8,000' most the day, dropping by late afternoon.  Currently, wind speeds are near 40 mph and will intensify this evening before quieting down a bit and shifting to the west late tomorrow.  2-6'' of snow are possible Tuesday day above 8,000'.

Current Conditions:

The surface snow is tired and worn out and new snow is a welcome improvement.  Most slopes at low and mid elevations will likely not have refrozen by morning and with rain they will only get worse before they get better.  At upper elevations the wind should help cool things a bit and most sunny slopes should be crusted with northerly facing slopes still harboring surprisingly nice settled powder.  The colder air should freeze most everything up by evening.

Snow and Avalanche Conditions:

By the time most of you read this Tuesday morning the southwest winds will have been blowing in the 25-30 mph range for 2 days with the last 12 hours or so near 40 mph.  The strong wind is scouring exposed slopes of any loose snow it can find, forming stiff wind slabs on the lee sides of ridges and around terrain features such as sub-ridges and gully walls.  Today, I was able to trigger a small wind-slab on a steep northerly facing slope just off the ridgeline between Logan Dry and Providence Canyon.  The hard slab was about 8" to a foot deep and just over 30' wide running only about 10'.  You will find similar localized pockets of hard slabs in exposed terrain Tuesday.  While some may be a bit stubborn and hard to trigger, others are sitting on top of weak surface snow formed this last weak and are actually quite sensitive.  Also be aware that warm temperatures have also made cornices rather sensitive.  The cold air should lock most wet activity up by some time Tuesday afternoon; however rain on snow at low elevations could lead to some wet avalanche activity Tuesday morning and early afternoon. 

Bottom Line:

Tuesday, there is a MODERATE avalanche danger on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees with recent deposits of wind-drifted snow.    With significant new snow Tuesday accompanied by stronger than expected winds the avalanche danger may rise to CONSIDERABLE on some steep upper elevation wind-effected slopes.  On some steep low elevation slopes a MODERATE danger of wet avalanches remains until cold air arrives Tuesday afternoon.

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...

Toby Weed will update this advisory by 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.