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/

                                          (click on) Utah Avalanche Center in Logan for our home page           

Logan area Avalanche advisory

Special Update

We've issued an Avalanche Warning for the Mountains of Northern Utah

Thursday February 22, 2007:

  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  February 22nd, and it’s 7:30 in the AM.  This advisory is brought to you in part by the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center in Logan with help from Crumb Brothers Bakery.

Bottom Line:

 Increasing and very strong south winds will cause a HIGH danger today on steep drifted slopes in the backcountry.  Wind slab avalanches are likely on any slope steeper than about 30 degrees with recent deposits of wind-blown snow.   Overrunning wind slabs or human triggers may initiate dangerous slab avalanches releasing on deeply buried persistent weak layers.  This type of avalanche has recently been limited to northwest through east facing slopes above about 8000' in elevation, but with a significant storm on our doorstep, I expect the danger to increase overnight and be much more widespread this weekend. 

Avalanche Conditions:

Dangerous avalanche conditions exist on many slopes across the regional backcountry.  The last two storms laid down enough snow to overload buried week layers on some slopes and we've seen a number of natural avalanches in the region as a a result.  On many other slopes, buried weak layers barely support the load, and a slab sits in a delicately balanced state just waiting for a trigger like you to come along and start an avalanche.  Still others have yet to receive enough of a load to become active; a situation that's likely to change with a potentially potent storm on Friday.  The big problem is that the weak layers are persistent, and the current instability could last for some time.   Strong southwest winds are forecast to continue and increase and stiff drifts are rapidly building up on the lee sides of exposed ridges and around terrain features like gullies and sub-ridges.  New wind slabs and freshly formed cornices were already gaining size and sensitivity on Tuesday and several natural avalanches were reported or observed yesterday.  (pictures of  natural avalanches)

Mountain Weather:

     The National Weather Service has issued a Wind Advisory and a Winter Storm Watch for the mountains of Northern Utah.  A significant storm will impact the region, with heavy snowfall beginning late tonight and continuing through Friday.

 General Information:

Go to the Avalanche Encyclopedia if you have any questions about terms I use in the advisory.  Check out the recently-released Media Page, which shows the current and forecast danger for our coverage areas across the state.

The Utah Avalanche Center compiled a good collection of photos from this week's avalanche cycle in the Wasatch Range.  Click here to visit this season's photos.  Check out photos of recent avalanches in the Logan Area on our images page.

Please e-mail me at [email protected] or leave me a message at 755-3638 if you see or trigger avalanches in the backcountry.  The information you provide may save lives...

    I will update this advisory again on Thursday 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.