Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Logan Area Mountains Issued by Toby Weed for Saturday - January 17, 2015 - 7:04am
bottom line

Heightened wind slab conditions exist and there's a MODERATE (level 2) avalanche danger in the backcountry. Pockets with a CONSIDERABLE (level 3) danger probably exist on some drifted upper elevation slopes, conditions are dangerous in some areas, and triggered wind slab avalanches 1 to 2 feet deep are probable.

  • Evaluate the snow and terrain carefully.
  • Avoid wind deposited snow on slopes steeper than about 30 degrees.

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special announcement

Special thanks to Buttar's and ArcticCat for hooking us up with the light and powerful M8000. This machine will make our field days more fun, safe, and productive and will significantly boost our outreach and education efforts.

We picked up and tried out the new sled last week.

The sled in action included in our new Practicing Companion Rescue video.........HERE

current conditions

The 8400' Tony Grove Snotel reports 4 inches of heavy new snow containing 0.8 inches of water in the last 24 hours. There's 61 inches of total snow containing 119% of average water for the date, and its 19 degrees this morning. Northwest winds are diminishing this morning, but they were fairly strong overnight. The UDOT Hwy 89 Logan Summit weather station reported winds averaging in the mid-twenties, with gusts in the forties overnight. Westerly winds were likely much stronger on the exposed ridges, and I noticed significant drifting yesterday.
recent activity

I ran into a nice fresh natural wind slab yesterday in western Dry Canyon. The hard slab avalanche on a seriously drifted north facing slope at 8600' was a bit bigger than I expected to see, 1 to 3 feet deep and 400 to 500' wide

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A fresh wind slab on the ridge west of DB Bowl in Dry Canyon. (1-16-15)

***Video Observation, looking at the fresh wind slab avalanche.........HERE

Visit our Backcountry Observations Page for more information from across the state and local.

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

Heightened conditions exist and triggered wind slab avalanches 1 to 3 feet deep are likely on some drifted upper elevation slopes. Wind slabs built up on weak near surface facets and in some cases, surface hoar, and the 1-5 rime crust in the central Bear River Range will make a smooth and hard bed surface.

  • Fresh wind slab avalanches are possible in exposed terrain near ridge-lines and also on drifted slopes lower on the slope.
  • Watch for and avoid cornices and wind drifts in and around terrain features like gullies and cliff bands, or cross-loaded into scoops and sub-ridges.
  • Fresh drifts and wind slabs should be fairly obvious, consisting of stiffer snow, rounded, chalky looking, and perhaps hollow sounding, but a couple inches from yesterday might make them a bit harder to see.
weather

It'll be partly sunny today, with west-southwest winds averaging in the mid teens, a high temperature at 8500' around 33 degrees. Overnight low temperatures are expected to be around 26 degrees. winds will increase from the west, and a couple flakes of snow might fall. Looks like it'll be mostly cloudy, mild, and quite breezy in the mountains tomorrow. A couple inches may accumulate tomorrow night.

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

general announcements

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.