The
Utah Avalanche Center Home page is: http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/
(click on) Utah Avalanche Center in Logan for our home
page
Logan
Hello
and good morning, this is Toby Weed of the
Current Conditions: A
couple inches of new snow fell overnight across the region, and it looks like
we’ll see a bit more today. Upper
elevations picked up a decent shot of snow, and the storm total up at the Tony
Grove Snotel reads an even one inch of water equivalent gain in the last 48
hours. Much of that came with gusty westerly
winds on Thursday, and extensive drifting occurred in exposed terrain. I found fun and smooth, not-so-dust-on-crust
conditions yesterday afternoon at mid elevations. I was quite impressed by the powerful heating
produced by short windows of sunshine between the clouds. Its 13 degrees at 9400’ and it looks like the
wind sensor at the CSI weather station is rimed-up, so local winds are
unknown. They’re from the southwest and
light to moderate on
Avalanche Conditions:
Beware
the Ides of March, which is
today…..Especially if your name is Julius Caesar or if you plan to play on steep
upper elevation slopes in the backcountry.
‘T was an active day in the
Central Wasatch Range Backcountry yesterday with several sizable triggered and
natural avalanches reported, including a couple with people taking unexpected
rides. (Wasatch Advisory) It looks like the new
snow from the last couple days wasn’t sticking so well to various old snow surfaces.
Soft slab avalanches occurred on slopes
where significant drifted new snow was deposited.
After
a few recent weekends with a relatively low avalanche danger in the local backcountry,
I’m concerned that you might be fooled into a false sense of confidence. Don’t be
betrayed by the somewhat shallow but heavy drifted new snow; you may find small
avalanches entraining lots of mass. Many
avalanche slide paths in the area are well filled-in and smooth, so even
relatively small avalanches might run fast and far.
Triggered soft and stiffer wind slab avalanches and sizable dry sluffs
will again be likely today on steep upper elevation slopes with significant
deposits of new snow. The danger of wind
slabs will be greatest on drifted slopes in
exposed upper elevation terrain and on slopes facing northwest through
southeast.
Bottom Line:
Generally,
there’s a MODERATE danger in the backcountry and
triggered new snow or wind slab avalanches are possible on slopes steeper than
about 35 degrees. There are areas in exposed upper elevation terrain
with a CONSIDERABLE danger on steep slopes with significant
deposits of drifted snow. Increasing and shifting winds overnight may cause the
danger of wind slab avalanches to increase and become more widespread.
Mountain Weather: The National Weather Service has issued a
Snow and Blowing Snow Advisory for the northern mountains as a Pacific
trough moves through the state. A few
inches of snow are likely to accumulate, but winds will increase and shift direction
overnight likely causing considerable drifting.
A high pressure system will build into the region for the coming week.
Check out the images page for photos of some of
this season’s avalanches.
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.
