Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Logan Area Mountains Issued by Toby Weed for Thursday - March 24, 2016 - 7:21am
bottom line

MODERATE (level 2): Heightened wind slab avalanche conditions exist, and you could trigger avalanches on drifted slopes at upper elevations. Solar warming may cause increasing loose wet avalanche danger on sunny slopes later today. Evaluate the snow and terrain carefully, and continue to avoid drifted upper elevation slopes.
current conditions

The Tony Grove Snotel at 8400' reports 25 degrees, and there's 92 inches of total snow containing 105% of average water for the date. I'm reading 19 degrees at the 9700' CSI Logan Peak weather station, with steady west winds, now averaging around 20 mph. We found nice powder conditions yesterday, with significantly more new snow the high up we got. There were large drifts from sustained northwest winds during the storm, and we could see evidence of some natural wet sluff and wind slab avalanche activity.

recent activity
  • We noticed evidence of several small natural wind slab avalanches that occurred during the storm Tuesday night and natural wet sluffs were common in sunny terrain yesterday. We noticed a fresh natural wind slab avalanche under the cliffs of Boiler Buttress in Steam Mill Canyon that was triggered by overrunning snow from a wet sluff from the cliffs above midday yesterday.
  • Four riders in a party of five were caught and carried in a sizable wind slab avalanche in White Pine Canyon Friday (3-18-16). One member of the party was fully buried, the other three partly buried (along with their sleds). Luckily one rider was not on the slope that avalanched and was able to initiate a successful companion rescue. Everyone is okay, with only minor injuries to report and the party was able to excavate their sleds and ride them out. Report and Photos........HERE
  • On Thursday, the fourth rider to cross a steep drifted mid elevation northeast facing slope in the White Pine Area triggered a 3-foot deep by around 80' wide avalanche. He was caught and carried a short distance and partially buried, but thankfully not injured. Report is HERE
  • A local rider caught a heart stopping video of unintentionally triggering a good sized avalanche in upper Steam Mill Canyon Friday (3-18-16).....Watch it...... HERE
  • On Saturday morning (3-19-16) local riders observed a large recent natural avalanche triggered by cornice fall in Castle Rock near Naomi Peak.

​***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

Heightened wind slab and cornice fall conditions exist due to significant recent accumulations and drifting at upper and mid elevations, with avalanches possible on many slopes.

  • Avoid drifted snow 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.
  • 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 again today, and will become likely when the sun comes out and mountain temperatures warm up.

Overrunning snow from a natural wet sluff triggered this larger wind slab avalanche under the cliffs of Boiler Buttress in Steam Mill Canyon. The avalanche involved only new snow from Tuesday and overnight and occurred around noon yesterday. (3-23-16)
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

If the high angled March sun comes out for a while later today, loose wet avalanches entraining a good amount of fresh snow will become possible, especially in sheltered sunny terrain.

weather

HIGH PRESSURE ACROSS THE AREA WILL GIVE WAY TO A COLD FRONT WHICH WILL SWEEP ACROSS NORTHERN UTAH THIS EVENING. THIS WILL BE FOLLOWED BY A SECOND WEATHER SYSTEM LATE FRIDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. A COLDER AND STRONGER STORM WILL SETTLE INTO THE GREAT BASIN EARLY NEXT WEEK.

Weather Forecast: Tony Grove Lake (41.897,-111.6535), Elevation: 8800'
Today: Snow showers likely, mainly after noon. Cloudy, with a high near 34. Breezy, with a west wind 14 to 23 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Total daytime snow accumulation of around an inch possible.
Tonight: Snow showers likely, mainly before midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 19. Blustery, with a west northwest wind 23 to 28 mph decreasing to 17 to 22 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 41 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.
Friday: Snow showers likely. Cloudy, with a high near 28. West wind 15 to 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.

general announcements

The National Avalanche Center recently completed an animated tutorial on the North American Avalanche Danger Scale.  HERE

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 avalance 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.