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

Tuesday January 16, 2007:

Hello, this is Toby Weed of the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your Logan Area avalanche and mountain weather advisory.  It's Tuesday January 16th, and it's 9:00 in the evening.  This advisory is brought to you in part by the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center in Logan who will present their third annual fundraiser on Friday night, January 19th, at the Bullen Center on Main Street in Downtown.

Current Conditions:

It's warmer in the mountains than down in the valley where the cold air is trapped by a strong high pressure system.  Although I wouldn't argue the fact that we're hurtin' for snow,  you can still find nice powder-like snow in the region if you're inventive and optimistic.   It's dust on crust in the Central Bear River Range.  The crust is zippery in the trees and at mid-elevations, but it's hard and very slick at high elevations.  In fact in some areas, an uncontrolled slide down a slippery slope may present more of danger than anything else.  The nicest snow I've found recently is on mid-elevation sheltered slopes south of Logan Canyon.

Avalanche Conditions:

Avalanches are unlikely on most slopes in the region.  There's plenty of weak snow out there, and the shallow snow on most slopes is getting weaker by the day under a large temperature gradient with these very cold temperatures.   In most areas, a slab necessary for avalanches to occur is the only missing ingredient.  You are likely to trigger loose snow sluffs on very steep slopes. The drifts from this weekend's east and then north winds are now solidly welded in place on most slopes, but there are still likely to be a few rouge wind slabs lurking on very steep isolated slopes that you might be able to trigger.

Bottom Line:

There is a LOW danger and avalanches are unlikely on most steep slopes in the backcountry.  There are exceptions to this and triggered wind slab avalanches are possible on very steep slopes in isolated terrain.   Use normal caution and safe travel techniques whenever you're traveling in the backcountry.

 Mountain Weather:

It looks like rather benign weather in the near future with a high pressure system strongly entrenched aloft.  We'll see gradually moderating temperatures at upper elevations in the next few days and mostly clear skies.  A weak Pacific storm will graze Far Northern Utah Wednesday night and early Thursday morning bringing clouds, milder overnight temperatures, and a slight chance for a couple flakes of snowfall. 

General Announcements: 

The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center-Logan will present a Level 1 Avalanche Class which is scheduled to begin on Thursday January 26th.  Please e-mail [email protected] or call 435-753-0372 if you're interested.

For cool pictures of some of 2006's avalanche activity, including last week's avalanches, visit our Images Page.

These advisories are updated on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and weekend mornings by about 7:00.   This advisory will expire on Wednesday night.  I will update it again on Thursday evening.  Logan Area advisories are accessible through the new statewide toll-free avalanche information line at, 1-888-999-4019.

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.  I'm a little starved for information from you these days.  Your observations are necessary, and the information you provide may save lives. 

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.