Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Logan Area Mountains Issued by Toby Weed for Wednesday - February 5, 2014 - 6:06am
bottom line

Heightened avalanche conditions exist, and there is a Level 2 or MODERATE danger on many slopes in the backcountry. Any increase in winds could create more dangerous conditions, and pockets with a CONSIDERABLE or Level 3 danger may develop on drifted upper elevation slopes. You could trigger fresh wind slab avalanches up to 2 feet deep in steep drifted terrain. Dangerous persistent slab avalanches stepping down into weak faceted old snow are possible in some areas, and in some cases might be triggered remotely, from a distance, or the flats below steep slopes. ​ Mostly manageable sluffs and shallow soft slabs remain likely in steep terrain with significant recent accumulations. Evaluate the snow and terrain carefully, and continue to avoid steep drifted slopes.




special announcement

We are on for our ESSENTIAL AVALANCHE AND RIDING SKILLS WORKSHOP this Saturday February 8th. Meet at Providence Canyon Snowmobile Parking at 9am. (until 2 or 3pm) Bring beacon, shovel and probe. We'll have a few spares. We'll spend 1/2 the time going over avalanche skills and the other 1/2 learning how to really ride from Nate and crew. Registration here. Cost - $120 All proceeds benefit the Utah Avalanche Center in Logan. You can register the day of at the parking lot.

current conditions

The Tony Grove Snotel at 8400' reports a couple more inches of light new snow in the last 24 hours containing only 2/10ths of an inch of water. There's 65 inches of total snow containing 81% of average water for the date, and it's a bone chilling 4 degrees. It's minus 1 degree at the 9700' Logan Peak weather station, and the wind sensor is still rimed, and so not reading accurately. The wind on Mt Ogden is from the southwest, averaging in the mid twenties this morning, with gusts in the thirties. We found super nice powder conditions yesterday, but the snow is so deep at upper elevations you need a fairly steep slope for fun turning.



The shallow mid-elevation snow is faceted and very weak, especially in the basal layers. This is depth hoar in Beaver Canyon, 2-2-2014 (Weed).


recent activity

Locally; We noticed a fair amount of natural sluffing and some small soft slab activity in steep terrain yesterday. Backcountry skiers report some natural persistent slab and fresh wind slab avalanche activity from over the weekend in Cottonwood Canyon in the Mount Naomi Wilderness (report).


Avalanche Problem 1
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

The fresh snow from the last couple days and overnight is light and fluffy, and it won't take much wind to cause significant drifting. Dangerous soft wind slab conditions may already exist in some areas, and any increase or shift in wind will cause the danger to increase and become more widespread. You are likely to trigger wind slab avalanches up to around 2 feet deep, failing on the sugary old snow surface from last week in steep drifted terrain, especially in upper elevation lee slope areas. Also, watch for and avoid stiffer wind deposited snow in and around terrain features like gullies, scoops, sub-ridges, and rock outcroppings or cliff bands at upper and mid elevations and on slopes facing all directions..

We easily cracked out small drifts on the ridge-line. Slopes too low angled for them to move far.

Avalanche Problem 2
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

In areas where the preexisting snow is shallow it is very weak, and dangerous triggered persistent slab and/or deep slab avalanches failing on buried faceted weak layers are possible on some steep slopes. The added load from light snow in the past couple days probably won't be enough to tip the scales in most areas, but it might be in some. With all the fluffy snow on the ground, any increase in winds will cause rapid loading of some slopes. Persistent slab activity was observed locally at upper elevations over the weekend, and chances are good that more slopes could be hanging in a state of balance with the fresh load from the last couple days. In some areas you still might trigger avalanches remotely, from a distance or even from the flats below steep slopes. We haven't seen the last of these tricky and persistent facets by any means, they are just lying in dormancy for the time being.

Trent Meisenheimer released a great video last week about persistent slab avalanches. View it ...HERE

Avalanche Problem 3
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

With all the light fluffy snow, mostly manageable sluffs and shallow soft storm slabs are likely in steep terrain. Avoid terrain traps and steep slopes where you might be swept into trees or rocks below.

weather

Snow is likely today, mainly in the afternoon, with 1 to 3 inches of accumulation forecast. Expect 8500' high temperatures around 10 degrees and 10 to 15 mph southwest winds on the ridges. Overnight temperatures will get down to around 3 degrees, an additional 2 to 4 inches of snowfall is expected, with the southwest winds shifting around from the northwest. A few more inches of accumulation is expected tomorrow and lots more is expected Friday. Looks like it'll be a rather snowy weekend with significant accumulations possible in the Logan Mountains. Warming temperatures are scheduled for later in the weekend...

Check out our one-stop weather page........HERE

general announcements

On Feb 6 (evening) and Feb 8 (field day), Craig Gordon will lead an avalanche class at Snowbasin for Sidecountry skiers and snowboarders. Learn how to make smart decisions riding in the backcountry on the other side of the resort boundary, riding powder and coming home alive. HERE

For a safer powder option; Discount lift tickets are available at Backcountry.com - Thanks to Ski Utah and the Utah Resorts, including Beaver Mountain. All proceeds go towards paying for Utah Avalanche Center avalanche and mountain weather advisories.

Utah Avalanche Center mobile app - Get your advisory on your iPhone along with great navigation and rescue tools.

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory by submitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can also call us at 801-524-5304 or 800-662-4140, email by clicking HERE, or include #utavy in your tweet or Instagram.

Follow us at UAClogan on Twitter 

I'll issue these advisories on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday mornings. 

This advisory is produced by the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. It describes only general avalanche conditions and local variations always exist.