THIS AVALANCHE WARNING IS FOR THE WASATCH MOUNTAINS NORTH OF I-80 INCLUDING THE BEAR RIVER RANGE OF NORTHERN UTAH THROUGH 8AM WEDNESDAY FEB 18 2009. HEAVY SNOWFALL AND MODERATE SOUTHWEST-WEST WINDS HAVE CREATED THE POTENTIAL FOR WIDESPREAD NATURAL AVALANCHE ACTIVITY AND AVALANCHES ARE LIKELY TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE WARNING PERIOD. PEOPLE WITHOUT EXCELLENT AVALANCHE AND ROUTE FINDING SKILLS SHOULD AVOID BACKCOUNTRY TRAVEL. THIS WARNING DOES NOT INCLUDE SKI AREAS OR HIGHWAYS WHERE AVALANCHE CONTROL IS NORMALLY DONE.

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(2-17-09 update)..... There is a CONSIDERABLE danger in the backcountry, and you could trigger dangerous storm snow or wind slab avalanches slopes steeper than around 35 degrees. Pockets with a HIGH danger may exist or develop with today's storm, mainly in terrain exposed to wind drifting at upper and mid-elevations. Triggered and natural avalanches are likely in these areas, especially in areas favored by a southwest flow that receive substantial deposits of additional heavy or drifted new snow today. A buried weak layer exists on some shady slopes and the danger of scary persistent slab avalanches is rising as accumulating and drifting snow slowly builds a slab on top of it. Today's storm could cause the danger of persistent slabs to rise quickly.

Travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended......Evaluate the snow and terrain carefully and use conservative decision making and wise travel protocols.

The southern part of the Bear River Mountains, especially western slopes or the "front canyons," and the Wellsville Range picked up a good deal more snow than the mountains north of around Logan Canyon this weekend and over the last week.

The Tony Grove Snotel recorded about 9 inches of accumulation of light snow over the weekend, containing 1/2 of an inch of water, and there's 77 inches of total snow on the ground. The Campbell Scientific weather station on Logan Peak at 9700' reports 18 degrees this morning and a fairly strong southwest wind, consistently averaging around 30, with gusts in the 45 mph range.

The National Weather Service in Salt Lake City issued a Winter Storm Watch for the mountains of Northern Utah through Wednesday. Expect snowfall to begin later this evening with continuing strong southwesterly winds switching around from the west tomorrow.

We triggered a few harmless soft slabs on Saturday. In one case, I triggered a small fresh wind slab from the ridge top, and then ski cut out another older stiffer slab in the bed surface of the first. (photos) Without strong wind, the very soft, fresh slab avalanches didn't present much of a danger.

But, southwest winds picked up and so did avalanche activity yesterday, especially in the Central Wasatch Range, with numerous reports of triggered wind slab avalanches on drifted slopes. (Wasatch Advisory)

Of particular interest to me is one in the mountains above Bountiful, in which the slab layer reached a critical mass and the lurking weak surface hoar layer became reactive to human weight. (PHOTOS)

The National Weather Service in Salt Lake City issued a Winter Storm Warning for the mountains of Northern Utah through Wednesday. Expect additional heavy snowfall and stout winds becoming a bit more westerly today. Should see light snowfall continuing through tonight and showery conditions tomorrow. A high pressure system will build in on Thursday and set up for the weekend.

The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center and the USU Outdoor Recreation Center are offering a four-day intensive advanced backcountry avalanche Level 2 (certification) class next weekend. The class starts on Thursday evening (2/19/09), and we'll spend the next 3 days in the field. Please call the ORC to register in advance. (435-797-3264)

Our "Know before You Go" video is available online..... (click HERE to watch it)

The UAC depends on contributions from users like you to support our work. To find out more about how you can support our efforts to continue providing the avalanche forecasting and education that you expect please visit our Friends page.

Your snow and avalanche observations help everyone in the backcountry community. Please let us know what you're seeing by leaving a message at (435-)755-3638 or 1-800-662-4140, or email us at uac@utahavalanchecenter.org. .

This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

I will update this advisory by around 7:30 Wednesday morning.