Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Logan Area Mountains Issued by Toby Weed for Wednesday - March 25, 2015 - 7:03am
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CONSIDERABLE (Level 3): Dangerous avalanche conditions probably exist at upper elevations in the backcountry. Triggered wind slab and storm snow avalanches are possible, and rapid solar warming of the new snow may cause natural avalanches today on slopes steeper than about 30 degrees.

  • Careful snowpack evaluation, cautious route-finding, and conservative decision making will be essential, especially in upper elevation terrain.
  • Avoid steep drifted terrain, ridge-top cornices, and midday travel beneath steep sunny slopes.

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special announcement

Special thanks to Buttar's of Tremonton and ArcticCat for hooking us up with the light and powerful M8000,
current conditions

Powder conditions should be pretty good at upper elevations, but with lots of fairly heavy new snow and sustained westerly winds yesterday and overnight, dangerous avalanche conditions probably exist in the backcountry, especially on drifted upper elevation slopes. The Tony Grove Snotel reports around 10 additional inches of new snow in the last 24 hours, containing 2 inches of water. There's now 70 inches of total snow containing 82% of average water for the date. Overnight temperatures were fairly mild but dropped with clearing skies overnight, and it's currently 19 degrees at the 8400' site. It's 17 degrees at the UDOT Hwy 89 Summit weather station, with diminishing and fairly light north wind this morning after sustaining 20-30 mph westerlies yesterday, with gusts in the 40s....

recent activity
  • Widespread natural loose wet avalanches occurred across the Logan Zone during the heat of the day last week, and riders reported observing a couple more sizable avalanches at upper elevations and on east facing slopes near the state line on Friday.
  • Backcountry skiers triggered a couple small wind slab avalanches in the mountains above Salt Lake City yesterday. We've received no reports of avalanches from the recent storm locally, although we picked up much more new snow. Thinking dangerous conditions exist on some upper elevation slopes, we'd really love to hear about what you see out there today.

***Watch "Natural Wet Avalanches up in Tony Grove," an observational video from 3-17-2015.......... HERE

Check out crowd-sourced avalanche information and recent backcountry observations from across the state.........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

Drifting of the new snow continued at upper elevations yesterday and overnight, with fairly strong and sustained west winds. Triggered wind slabs 2 to 3 feet deep, failing on the old wet snow interface or within the fresh snow are possible, and some of these could run fast and far on a crusty refrozen and smooth underlying bed surface. Avoid drifted new snow on slopes steeper than about 30 degrees, and steer clear of rebuilt ridge-top cornices, which might break further back than expected, and could trigger avalanches on slopes below.
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

You could trigger soft slab avalanches consisting of up to a couple feet of fresh storm snow on some steep slopes at upper elevations. It might be wise to let yesterday's heavy accumulation settle out a bit before committing to steep or big powder lines. But, the sun will be out in full force today, and it will quickly warm the fresh snow.

  • Triggered soft slab avalanches up to around 2 feet deep are possible in steep terrain.
  • Natural heat related storm slab avalanches are a good possibility as the fresh snow is suddenly warmed by high angled spring sun.
  • Loose wet avalanches involving sticky fresh snow will become likely on steep sunny slopes as the day warms.
weather

Expect partly sunny conditions today, with mountain high temperatures hovering around freezing at upper elevations and a moderate northwest breeze. Looks like a warming trend as we head into the weekend.

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

general announcements

***Advisories by email for the Logan Zone.  Go here for details.

Discount lift tickets are now available at Backcountry.com.  Thanks to Ski Utah and the Utah Resorts.  All proceeds go towards paying for Utah Avalanche Center avalanche and mountain weather advisories.

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you shop from Backcountry.com or REI:  Click this link for Backcountry.com or this link to REI, shop, and they will donate a percent of your purchase price to the UAC.  Both offer free shipping (with some conditions) so this costs you nothing!

***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. 

 As we're rapidly heading into spring, we'll post these advisories intermittently and as conditions change in the backcountry.  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.