The
Utah Avalanche Center Home page is: http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/
(click on) Utah Avalanche Center in Logan for our home
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Logan
Hello
and good morning, this is Toby Weed of the
Current Conditions:
It’ll feel a lot like winter today in the mountains with
diminishing snow showers, mostly cloudy skies, cold temperatures, and a
bighting north wind. You should be able
to find a bit of the “greatest snow on earth” in the backcountry, with good to excellent
powder conditions likely on many upper and mid elevation slopes today. You’ll probably find dust-on-crust or even shallow
powder on somewhat breakable crusts at lower elevations and on slopes affected
by spring heating on Saturday. I’m
reading 14 inches of fluffy new snow containing 6/10ths of an inch of water at
the Franklin Basin Snotel just north of the Idaho State Line and around 9
inches with ½ inch of water at the Tony Grove Snotel. There’s 107 inches of total snow on the
ground at 8400’, containing 106% of average water for the date. Overnight winds on
Avalanche Conditions:
Over the weekend, we’ve received
numerous reports of sensitive triggered shallow soft slabs from the
With
lots of fresh driftable snow about and increasing
westerly winds forecast, freshly formed or forming wind slabs are my primary concern. Triggered wind slab avalanches are most likely
on steep upper elevation slopes with significant deposits of new or recently
drifted snow, and some naturals are possible, especially if wind speeds
increase. Fresh drifts should be fairly
obvious, and you should avoid them on steep slopes. Significant loose sluffs involving the fresh
powder are likely in steep terrain and some could overwhelm or knock you over
especially in gullies. Many avalanche slide paths in the area
are well filled-in and smooth, so even relatively small avalanches might run
far or fast. As is typical in the
springtime, wet avalanches may become possible on steep slopes as
warmth from even short periods of sunshine turns the fresh surface snow into
slush. You might find even smallish wet
avalanches entraining lots of mass and traveling far. Relatively cool temperatures and lingering cloud
cover should help to keep the snow dry, but this time of year, any solar
warming can be very intense and when the fresh snow becomes saturated is prone
to avalanching.
The huge cornices in the region now present an
obvious danger, especially when it’s windy or warm. Large cornices may be sensitive to your weight
today and may break further back than you expect. It is always a good idea in the spring to
stay out from under these monsters.
Bottom Line:
Overall
there’s a MODERATE avalanche
danger in the backcountry, and you could trigger wind slab or storm snow avalanches
on some slopes steeper than about 35 degrees. The greatest risk and pockets with a CONSIDERABLE danger exist on steep, drifted or
corniced slopes in exposed terrain at upper elevations. This means triggered avalanches are probable and
naturals are possible in some areas. Wet
avalanches may become possible on some slopes if the sun comes out and the fresh
surface snow is warmed and becomes saturated.
Mountain Weather: The cold front is on its way south and
east this morning, and we should see diminishing snow showers and cloud cover today. It’ll be unseasonable cold and it could be
rather breezy, with west winds forecast to increase a bit in the middle of the
day. The next storm will affect the
region beginning with light snow tomorrow afternoon and lasting through around Thursday.
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.
