Hello and good morning, this is Toby Weed of the
Current Conditions:
A Winter
Storm Warning remains in effect until this evening as even more powder
stacks up in the mountains. Ben Lomond
Peak Snotel is the big producer this morning with 2.1 inches of water
equivelent since yesterday afternoon. The
Tony Grove Snotel picked up a solid inch of water in several inches of snow,
and I’m now reading 70 inches on the total snow stake. Overnight southwest winds at CSI weather on
Logan Peak averaged in the upper twenties for several hours with higher gusts. I’m noting a west, northwest windshift now,
and speeds are holding in the teens. It’s
15 degrees at 9400’ and 30 degrees down in Mendon. Luckily, the copious deep powder snow will
keep us all satisfied on gental slopes and at lower elevations. The deep, soft snow will keep most of us out
of danger with difficult trail breaking and getting the sled stuck conditions.
Avalanche
Conditions:
No avalanches observed or reported
from the backcountry around
The additional weight from today’s
storm might be just enough to put some slopes over the edge. I’d not be surprised to see a few full-depth
natural avalanches on slopes cursed by faceted snow near the ground and
overloaded by today’s new water weight. The
good news is that the Deep Slab instability caused by faceted or sugary snow
near the ground is now so deeply buried in many places that your weight alone
is probably not enough to activate it.
The bad news is you might not get any tell-tail signs of danger until
you actually trigger the slab from a shallow spot. Potential large hard slab
avalanches could be several feet deep, very broad and deadly. Possible
trigger spots include rocky or generally shallow areas, like cliffy lower
elevation areas or upper elevation slopes scoured by previous northwest winds. Possible triggers include overrunning smaller
new snow avalanches, additional loading from heavy snow and especially wind
drifting, cornice fall, and Humans.
Increasing winds today may cause a
rising danger. Watch for fresh or
forming wind slabs, and avoid them on steep slopes at all elevations. Be wary of the dangerous combination of depth hoar
and recent drifting at mid and lower elevations.
Bottom Line:
There’s
a CONSIDERABLE danger and you could trigger dangerous avalanches
on many steep slopes in the backcountry, mainly in exposed upper elevation
terrain. Increasing winds today could
cause the danger to rise or become more widespread. There may already be a HIGH danger in some areas like at upper elevations in
the
Mountain Weather:
Expect more snow this
morning with an increase in winds possible 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.