Hello and good morning, this is Toby Weed of the
Current
Conditions:
Powder conditions vary across the region. We found some nice graupel-filled and
inverted snow at low elevations yesterday and fairly difficult trail breaking. You’re likely to enjoy today’s settled–out
and slightly re-crystallized version a bit more.
The
Tony Grove Snotel reports approximately 4.5 inches of water equivalent gain in
the last week, and there’s 92 inches of total snow on the ground now containing
94% of the average water content. The
wind on
Avalanche
Conditions:
We’ve observed evidence of numerous natural and a few
triggered wind slab avalanches in the backcountry over the last week. Yesterday we stumbled into a lower elevation
area in the Southern Wellsville Range where widespread natural avalanching
occurred overnight, (photos).
For
a few extended periods last week strong southwest winds caused extensive
drifting and built hard and soft slabs on numerous steep slopes across the
region. The biggest recent wind deposits are at upper elevations, near ridge
tops, and on slopes facing the eastern half of the compass, but there are
significant stiff drifts at all elevations and on slopes facing all
directions. Much of the quick healing
instability associated with new snow will probably already have settled out by
now, but wind-drifted snow overloaded some steep slopes with existing
persistent weak layers. There is
potential for some avalanches to step down to one of several lingering weak
layers formed on the snow surface before last week. These now buried weaknesses consist of thin
sugary or faceted layers located under brittle sun crusts on some slopes and
including frost crystals or surface hoar on others.
Bottom Line:
There is generally a MODERATE
danger in the backcountry, and triggered slab avalanches are possible on steep
slopes at all elevations. In some areas, wind-drifted snow
overloaded slopes with existing persistent weak layers, and the danger will remain CONSIDERABLE. You could probably trigger aging wind slab
avalanches on a good number of slopes steeper than about 35 degrees in the
backcountry. Lingering persistent slab
avalanches are most likely at upper elevations and on slopes facing the eastern
half of the compass. Use good snow
assessment and safe travel techniques to minimize your risks today. The danger will likely rise and become more
widespread tomorrow with another Pacific storm and potential for heavy snowfall
and strong winds.
Mountain Weather:
The
National Weather Service issued a Winter
Storm Watch for our area for late tonight through Monday morning. Snowfall is expected to develop late tonight
in
We’ll
see you today up at Winter Trails Day at the Hardware Ranch TH up in Blacksmith
Fork.
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.