Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Logan Area Mountains Issued by Toby Weed for Saturday - January 3, 2015 - 6:44am
bottom line

Heightened avalanche conditions exist, you might trigger wind slab avalanches, and there's a MODERATE (level 2) danger on steep drifted slopes in the backcountry. Dangerous persistent slab avalanches are becoming more unlikely but remain possible in some steep upper and mid-elevation terrain, especially on shallow or rocky slopes with poor snow structure.

  • Continue to avoid stiffer wind deposits on steep slopes and in unusual places.
  • Evaluate the snow and terrain carefully...

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special announcement

We will offer an Avalanche Awareness Class, for beginners and as a refresher for those already with some training, including a Field Day in the backcountry. Class begins on January 8 (evening) and all day Saturday January 10. Call Paige at 435-757-2794 for more information.
current conditions

The Tony Grove Snotel reports 59 inches of total snow at the 8400' site containing 133% of average water for the date, and its 21 degrees this morning. The wind sensor is still rimed at the CSI Logan Peak weather station, but it's 13 degrees. The UDOT Hwy 89 Logan Summit weather station is showing 5 to 10 mph northwest wind, and 18 degrees. The strong east wind from earlier in the week decimated the snow in exposed terrain, creating fantastic sastrugi, wind boards, crusts of varied thickness, and stiff wind slabs in unusual places. Yesterday's warm sun wetted the surface snow in sunny terrain, and we'll find crusts this morning. There's still plenty of nice soft settled powder, and it's especially nice in shady sheltered areas.

Fantastic sastrugi,​ from the affects of strong east winds in the final days of 2014. (Flygare 12-31-2014)
recent activity

No avalanches yet reported in the New Year. In fact, it's been pretty quiet in the Logan Zone this season, with no significant avalanches reported since the Solstice natural cycle and a triggered avalanche in the Rodeo Grounds just before Christmas.

Visit our Backcountry Observations Page for more information.....
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

This week's strong east wind event built wind slabs in unusual areas because we are much more used to experiencing drifting from strong south or west winds. Wind slab instability will heal fairly quickly if the drifted snow doesn't pile up on preexisting weak snow, and we've seen a good improvement in stability in the last few days. But there may be a few booby traps out there, where drifts built on weak snow. Wind slabs may be lurking on the lee side of ridge-lines and in and around terrain features like gullies, scoops, cliff-bands, and sub-ridges. The drifts are fairly obvious now and appear rounded, patterned, chalky looking, and may be hollow sounding. The initial instability appears to have settled out, and the wind slabs I've prodded were well behaved, but I avoided those on steeper slopes.


Cracking caused by drifted snow from last week's east wind overloading shallow weak snow at lower elevations. (1-1-2015)

****Watch Cold East Wind video observation from 12-30-2014............HERE

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 persistent slab avalanches are becoming more unlikely, but they remain possible in outlying terrain facing the northern half of the compass, and on drifted slopes steeper than about 30 degrees. I triggered a couple nice audible collapses on New Years in shallow west facing terrain. Weak sugary snow under a thick crust from the wet Solstice storm failed, creating loud booming woompfs. Steep rocky slopes at mid and upper elevations that had shallow snow cover in December appear the most suspect currently.

*****Video observation from Franklin Basin in the Beaver Mountain Backcountry from 12-31-2014...........HERE
weather

It'll be cloudy today with a chance for a little snowfall, but little in the way of accumulation. Temperatures will drop a few degrees from their current highs during the day, and we can expect moderate (10-15 mph) west-northwest wind on the ridges. It'll be mostly cloudy tonight, with a low around 11 degrees. We should see light snow in the mountains tomorrow through Monday, with 4 to 8 inches of accumulation possible by Monday night.

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

general announcements

-West Jorden Police asked us to help search for a missing person.  He may be parked at a sledding trailhead.  He was last seen in a navy blue 1998 Dodge pickup, license plate B963D.  Police are asking those who spot  his truck not to approach him but to call West Jordan police with a location at 801-840-4000 and refer to case No. 14H018087.

You can now receive advisories by email for each region in the state including Logan.  Go here for details.

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

Please submit snow and avalanche observations from your ventures in the backcountry HERE. You can call us at 801-524-5304 or email HERE, or include #utavy in your Instagram or Tweet us @UAClogan. To report avalanche activity in the Logan Area or to contact the local avalanche forecaster call me, Toby, at 435-757-7578. 

I'll regularly update this advisory on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday mornings by about 7:30.   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.