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Logan
Hello, this is Toby Weed of the
Current Conditions:
True to early March form early this morning; a
quick-hitting storm hit the refresh button on the backcountry powder conditions
and dumped a nice new blanket on mountain slopes across the region. About 9 inches with 9/10ths of an
inch of water fell at the Tony Grove Snotel, with similar amounts in favored
locations across
Avalanche Conditions:
There haven’t been any
recent avalanches reported in the backcountry for nearly a week. We’re still finding more evidence of last
Friday’s extensive natural cycle, which appears to have been much more
widespread south of
The deeply buried persistent weak layers responsible
for the recent local huge hard slabs are notoriously slow to heal. With time you are less likely to trigger one
of these killer avalanches but if you hit a shallow spot on a slab just right,
you will awake a monster. The warm temperatures increase the creep rate of the
slab over the buried weak layers, and a few significant natural avalanches may
result. Another problem with the warmth
is slab softening, which may make thick slabs more susceptible to being
triggered by your weight. Wind slab or
wet avalanches overrunning slopes with deeply buried weak layers could trigger
much larger and deadly hard slab avalanches.
Strong westerly winds built drifts and sensitive wind
slabs along ridge-lines and in exposed terrain.
Most of these should be obvious on Friday and as usual, you should avoid
all chalky looking and hollow sounding drifts on steep slopes. Fresh wind slabs in the 1 to 1.5 ‘ deep range
are likely, but the weight of a smaller avalanche overrunning some slopes could
be enough to trigger a deeper and more dangerous hard slab avalanche.
Bottom Line:
There is a MODERATE danger and triggered avalanches are possible on steep slopes in the backcountry. Wind slab avalanches are possible on some drifted slopes, most likely facing north through east and above around 8500’ in elevation. Loose wet avalanches are possible on slopes heated by solar warming or greenhousing. Some avalanches could step down into deeply buried persistent weak layers and could be large, destructive and deadly.
Mountain Weather:
Friday will be mostly cloudy and mild, with a light
northwesterly breeze and mountain high temperatures around 40 degrees. A few snowflakes are likely late Friday
night, but the weekend looks fair and warm.
A high pressure system will start to build over the region and looks
like it will control the weather for the early part of next week.
General Information:
For more information on last week's accidents from
the
Check out photos of last week's avalanches in the Logan Area on our images page.
Go to the Avalanche Encyclopedia if you have any questions about terms I use in the advisory. I also recommend the recently-released Media Page, which shows the forecast danger for our coverage areas across the state.
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...
This advisory will expire on Friday night. I will update it again on Saturday morning.
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.
