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

Thursday April 13, 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 April 13th 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:

A south wind will keep pumping warm air into the region, and it looks like mountain temperatures will once again stay well above freezing overnight.  Clear skies will allow for some long wave radiation cooling, and a supportable superficial crust will form on the snow surface.  But warmth on Friday will quickly melt it away on many slopes.  It's still above 40 degrees at 9400' on Logan Peak this evening, and westerly winds have diminished to around 10 mph.

Snow and Avalanche Conditions:

If you're up on top at dawn, you might get a few turns of spring corn, especially on well ventilated slopes.  But avalanche conditions will get more dangerous as you start sinking through into the softer saturated snow underneath.  Solar heat may be trapped in the atmosphere by clouds and the heat could be amplified, just like it is in a greenhouse.  Both easily triggered wet point-release and slab avalanches will become more likely as things heat up.  In addition to steep softening slopes in the heat of the day, you should give monstrous sagging cornices and widening glide cracks lots of respect and space.  Fortunately, it would be unlikely for you to trigger a glide avalanche. Unfortunately, natural glide avalanches are possible this time of year any time of day or night on particular slopes with smooth ground or rock surfaces, which become lubricated by melt-water.

Bottom Line:

This morning there's a MODERATE danger, and wet avalanches are possible on some slopes steeper than about 35 degrees in the backcountry.  Warmth and lack of an overnight re-freeze will cause the danger to rise to CONSIDERABLE in some areas during the heat of the day.

Mountain Weather:

We're in for at least one more very warm day after an insufficient overnight re-freeze.  A cold front should bring dropping temperatures and a little snow on Friday night.  The weekend will bring continued showers, cloudiness, and little real or prolonged relief from the heat.  With any luck, it'll cool off drastically with a moist cold front on about Monday.

General Information: 

If you're confused by some of our avalanche terms check out the cool new Avalanche Encyclopedia. 

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 Friday night. I will update it again Saturday morning by about 7:00 am.  Sunday April 16th will be our last regularly scheduled advisory.

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.