Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Logan Area Mountains Issued by Toby Weed for Tuesday - March 8, 2016 - 7:04am
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LOW: The snow is stable on most slopes and avalanches are unlikely in the backcountry. Even so, pockets with heightened avalanche conditions may exist on some upper elevation slopes, and triggered cornice fall and wind slab avalanches are possible in drifted terrain. Some shallow loose wet activity involving the fresh snow is also possible with midday solar warming. Use normal caution
current conditions

The Tony Grove Snotel at 8400' reports 20 degrees this morning and there's 70 inches of total snow containing 94% of average water for the date. 4 or 5 inches of fairly heavy snow fell at upper elevations after a rainy day Sunday night. It's 14 degrees and at the 9700' CSI Logan Peak weather station and the wind sensor is encased with rime. Ogden Peak shows increasing light northerly winds after calm conditions overnight. I found nice smooth "ride anywhere" and stable conditions, with a few inches of fresh California-like snow at upper elevations yesterday.
recent activity
  • A party of riders triggered a fairly large loose wet avalanche in a steep north facing chute in the Tony Grove Area Sunday (3-6-2016). The avalanche flushed all the heavy new snow out of the upper part of the gully and gouged out old snow down to rocks lower down, leaving an impressive pile of debris in the apron.
  • A party in the Franklin Basin Area reports triggering a small loose wet slide yesterday including insulated slushy snow from Sunday.
    ***To view our updated list of backcountry observations and avalanche activity from around Utah, go to our observations page

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

Pockets with heightened cornice fall and wind slab avalanche conditions may exist in some drifted upper elevation terrain. With the increasing sun angle in March, we always need to consider the possibility of loose wet avalanches involving sun warmed fresh snow.

  • Beware large overhanging ridge-top cornices, which could break further back than you expect and might trigger avalanches on drifted slopes below. Natural cornice falls are possible in some areas, especially during the heat of the day.
  • You might trigger wind slab avalanches on drifted upper elevation slopes in some areas. Avoid recent drifts on the lee sides of ridges, cross-loaded along sub-ridges, and in and around terrain features like rock outcroppings, gullies, scoops, trees, and saddles. Cracking is a sign of potential instability.
  • Loose wet avalanches entraining the fresh snow on the surface are possible. Periods of powerful March sun later today could quickly warm the new snow in sunny terrain, and the fresh snow could become prone to avalanching.

weather

Looks like we might see some snow showers in the mountains this afternoon, and it'll be partly sunny with a high temperature at 8500' of around 34 degrees. Expect light northeast wind veering from the west later in the afternoon. There's a chance of 1 or 2 inches of accumulation tonight, with low temps around 23 degrees and increasing southwest wind. Snow showers are likely tomorrow morning, with another 1 to 3 inches of accumulation possible, a high near 29, and west winds averaging in the teens. A mild southwest flow will develop later in the week.
general announcements

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. 

We'll update this advisory throughout the season 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.