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

Special Update

 November 28, 2006

Hello and good morning, this is Toby Weed of the Utah Avalanche Center in Logan with your backcountry avalanche and mountain weather advisory.  It's Tuesday November 28th, and it's 7:30 in the morning.  This advisory is brought to you in part by the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center in Logan with the help of avalanchetools.com. 

Current Conditions:

Mountain temperatures plummeted overnight, and at 6:00 this morning, its -1 degree on the summit of Logan Peak.   The wind at the Campbell Weather station is currently averaging less than 10 mph out of the northwest.   Our snow totals aren't nearly as impressive as those to our south in the Wasatch Range, with the Franklin Basin Snotel site reading 9 inches of new snow containing .6 inches of water.  The Wellsville Range and the Northern Wasatch did better, with the Ben Lomond Peak Snotel reporting 1.2 inches of accumulated water weight.

Avalanche Conditions:

We've issued an Avalanche Warning for the backcountry in the Wasatch Range, and the ski areas are expecting an active morning as they prepare to open terrain to the powder-hungry masses.  This might be a good day to take advantage of their hard work and join the crowds in lift serviced terrain.  This morning, new snow avalanches are possible in the Bear River Range, and with continuing storminess likely today, the danger in the backcountry will be on the rise.  Storm snow, wind slab, and dry point release type avalanches are all possible on steep slopes in the region, with the danger of slab avalanches more pronounced on northwest through southeast facing slopes above about 8000'.   Avalanches are more likely in the Wellsville Range where more snow may have fallen yesterday afternoon.

 Bottom Line:

This morning there's a MODERATE avalanche danger in the backcountry of the Bear River Range.  You might trigger soft slab avalanches consisting of new snow on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees. Continuing snowfall and westerly winds today could cause the danger to rise to CONSIDERABLE with natural avalanches possible and triggered avalanches probable on steep slopes in the backcountry.

Mountain Weather:

A Heavy Snow Warning continues for the mountains of Northern Utah through noon tomorrow.  The wind is coming back around from the west on Logan Peak and more bands of snow are on the way across Northern Nevada.  Keep your fingers crossed.

General Information:

Click here for information on this season's upcoming fundraiser. 

 I will give a free Avalanche Awareness Talk, open to all and sponsored by the USU Free-riders club, at The Directive on 100 East in Logan on Wednesday, December 6th at 6:30.  Also, the USU Outdoor Recreation Center Basic Avalanche class begins on Thursday, December 7th, so be sure to sign up in advance for that.

   I'll be updating my advisories on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and weekend mornings by about 7:00.  I'll update this advisory this evening.  Logan Area advisories will be accessible through the new statewide toll-free avalanche info line;        1-888-999-4019.

If you're confused by some of our avalanche terms check out the cool new Avalanche Encyclopedia.  Please  send backcountry observations to [email protected] or leave us a message at 755-3638, especially if you see or trigger an avalanche in the backcountry.

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.