Hello and good morning, this is Toby Weed of the
Current Conditions:
As the next
part of this weekend’s storm brings more snowfall into the region, the National
Weather Service has continued a Winter
Storm Warning through this evening. At the CSI weather station on Logan Peak it’s
currently 15 degrees, and a southwest wind picked up in the last couple
hours. Currently reading averages over
30 mph with gusts near 50 mph. Warm
advection snowfall started early this morning in the mountains, and there’s 58
inches on the ground at the Tony Grove Snotel with a couple of new. Should be a snowy day in the Bear River Range,
with 10 to 12 inches of snowfall forecast at 8800’ by dinertime.
Avalanche
Conditions:
We have reports of a few fairly large
natural avalanches in the
Periods of heavy snowfall could
bring a significant additional load to slopes in the region where this weekend’s
new snow didn’t bond well to the old weak snow surface. Soft slab avalanches
consisting of new snow up to 2 feet deep are possible on many steep slopes. In terrain exposed to southwest and west
winds, wind-drifting of the new snow will exacerbate the loading problem and
fresh wind slabs sensitive to your weight are a good bet.
Significant loading by wind and
snowfall may lead to large avalanches including old snow on slopes in the
Bottom Line:
Overall,
the danger on steep slopes in the backcountry today is CONSIDERABLE.
Today avalanche training and experience are
essential for safe backcountry travel. Dangerous triggered
avalanches are probable on slopes with significant deposits of new or
wind-drifted snow steeper than about 35 degrees. Heavy snowfall and continued wind-drifting today
may cause the danger in some areas to rise to HIGH, and spontaneous large natural avalanches
are not out of the question. Avoid
travel in avalanche terrain and stay off of and out from under steep slopes and
obvious or historic avalanche paths.
Mountain Weather:
A strong Pacific storm will bring more
heavy snowfall to the region today, and a moist westerly flow will continue
well into next week. 10 to 12 additional
inches of accumulation are possible today, with another 8 or so tomorrow. Heaviest periods of snowfall will occur
around
General Information:
Check out photos of 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'm very interested to know what
you're seeing out there. Please e-mail observations to me at [email protected] or leave me a message at 755-3638,
especially if you see or trigger an avalanche in the backcountry. We keep all
observations confidential.
This advisory will expire in 24
hours from the posting time.
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.