Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Logan Area Mountains Issued by Toby Weed for Monday - February 24, 2014 - 7:22am
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Heightened avalanche conditions exist and there's a MODERATE or Level 2 avalanche danger in the backcountry. You could trigger wind slab avalanches and/or good sized cornice falls in drifted terrain at upper and mid elevations. Very dangerous deep slab avalanches are rather unlikely but still possible in steep terrain and might be triggered from shallower areas. Warming today will create an increasing danger of entraining loose wet avalanches in steep terrain where the fresh snow becomes saturated. Evaluate the snow and terrain carefully.

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current conditions

The interior of the Central Bear River Range picked up a pretty good shot of snow on Saturday morning, with 13 inches of accumulation recorded in 6 hrs at the Tony Grove Snotel. It's a balmy 33 degrees at 8400' and there's 103 inches of total snow, containing 120% of average water content for the date. The 9700' CSI Logan Peak weather station reports 25 degrees and average wind speeds in the mid twenties from the west southwest again this morning. You can find good powder riding conditions, especially on sheltered shady slopes, but yesterday's sun damaged the powder down low and on any terrain facing at all south. Relentless west southwest winds drifted lots of fresh snow into lee slope starting zones and formed some good sized cornices along the ridge tops.


Strong west winds drifting snow off Cornice Ridge yesterday evening. Expect fresh wind slabs and built out cornices today. (2-23-2014)
recent activity

Manageable cornice falls, wind slabs, and loose sluffs were observed this weekend, with no significant avalanche activity or deep slab avalanches reported. It's now been over a week since the extensive and widespread natural deep slab avalanche cycle, which included activity on slopes at all elevations facing most directions. Colder temperatures appear to have locked up the deep instabilities temporarily, but it's slowly warming up again up high and they may well again become active.

Video look at a HUGE natural avalanche in the Wellsville Range, from 2-19-2014...........HERE

Check out "Beaver Backside is the Backcountry," an Avalanche observation video from 2-16-2014 .....HERE

A child's perspective on last week's natural wet avalanche above Zanavoo in Logan Canyon filmed on 2-17-2014 .......HERE
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

Triggered wind slab avalanches and cornice falls are likely in some exposed upper elevation terrain. Avoid freshly formed cornices along exposed ridge-lines, which are likely to break further back than you expect and stiffer drifted snow on the lee sides of major ridge lines and in and around terrain features like rock outcroppings, sub-ridges and gullies.

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

Dangerous triggered deep slab avalanches failing on preexisting faceted weak layers at the bottom of the snowpack remain possible today, especially on drifted upper and mid elevation slopes that didn't naturally avalanche in the recent prolonged cycle. The deep slab instability associated with the weak faceted snow in the basal layers appears dormant currently, but warming and a bit of new load from the weekend's accumulation and wind could reawaken it on some slopes. Be especially cautious in shallow, rocky terrain. ​ Recently drifted and sun-warmed slopes with shallow overall snow cover are the most suspect, since shallow areas tend to harbor the weakest snow. You might trigger a deep slab from a shallower area of the slab.

Avalanche Problem 3
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 12 hours
description

Wet sluffs entraining significant piles of fresh snow will become increasingly likely as the day heats up, with solar warming and green-housing due to partial cloud cover the wildcard. Avoid steep slopes with saturated fresh surface snow and be especially careful above trees or other terrain traps that you could be dragged into.
weather

It'll be mostly cloudy today with a chance of some snow showers, west southwest winds and a high temperature at 8500' of around 36 degrees. It'll be mostly cloudy again tonight with a chance of some snow and low temperatures around 27 degrees. Similar, moist and mild weather will continue through Thursday, when a more significant and productive zonal pattern will set up, with accumulating snow a good bet.

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

 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.

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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.

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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.