Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Logan Area Mountains Issued by Toby Weed for Monday - December 5, 2016 - 9:01pm
bottom line

Heightened avalanche conditions exist on drifted upper elevation slopes, and triggered wind slab avalanches are possible. Evaluate the snow and terrain carefully, and avoid upper elevation slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow.

  • Very shallow early season snow cover exists in the backcountry, and hitting rocks is still a serious concern.
  • You don't want to take a ride even in a small avalanche, as you could easily be injured with the shallow snow hardly covering up the rocks and dead-fall in avalanche runout zones.
special announcement

You are invited to our annual Pray for Snow fundraiser/party on Wednesday December 7 at the Italian Place in downtown Logan. For tickets and information Go...HERE

current conditions

With very shallow early season snow conditions, rocks and dead-fall are only shallowly buried and you need to be extra careful and keep your speed down in the backcountry. The extremely cold air temperatures are causing a significant temperature gradient through the shallow snowpack. This difference in temperature is driving sublimation of water vapor through the snow, and rapid development of weak faceted snow. I was impressed today by how quickly this is occurring, especially where there is less than about 2' of snow cover.

Remember, the Tony Grove Road is a busy shared use area, so you have to watch your speed around pedestrians and dogs. The road is not maintained for driving in the winter, so be prepared with shovel and winter survival gear. Once you get through the first mile or so, the road is well covered, and many people are sledding up the road these days. Beaver Mountain welcomes up-hill hiking traffic this time of year as it helps to pack out the slopes, but you should consider it as "backcountry terrain" before they open the lifts to the public.
recent activity

A skier reports unintentionally remote triggering a good sized wind slab avalanche Sunday afternoon as he was walking along the ridge. The avalanche occurred in East Chicken Hill in the Bunch Grass drainage.

Drifting Sunday created sensitive wind slab avalanche conditions in exposed terrain. This Hard Slab in East Chicken Hill was remote triggered from the ridge on Sunday afternoon, (12-4-2016)
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

Southwest winds picked up yesterday and significant drifting of last week's nice light snow occurred at upper elevations. I could see impressive plumes of drifting snow coming off the high peaks of the Wellsville and Bear River Ranges from the valley on Sunday. In some areas the drifted snow was deposited on small grained, sugary, near surface facets. Heightened avalanche conditions exist on drifted upper elevation slopes, and triggered wind slab avalanches are possible. I usually avoid steep lee slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow.

weather

A colder storm system will bring light snow and the coldest temperatures of the season to most of Utah and southwest wyoming for tomorrow into midweek. An active and potentially wetter pattern will again set up late week through the weekend.

Weather Forecast: Tony Grove Lake (41.897,-111.6535), Elevation: 8800'
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 1. Wind chill values as low as -11. West northwest wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Tuesday: Snow likely, mainly after 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 13. Wind chill values as low as -6. West southwest wind 3 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.
Tuesday Night: Snow likely before 11pm, then a chance of snow showers after 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around -11. Wind chill values as low as -20. West wind 8 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.

general announcements

The early season is a great time to refresh yourself and practice companion rescue techniques with your partners.

Check out Avalanche Canada's "Rescue at Cherry Bowl" story HERE

Between now and Jan 15th: Donate to the Utah Avalanche Center by shopping at Whole Foods Market Utah! When you visit any Utah Whole Foods Market locations, bring your re-usable bags, Whole Foods will donate a dime per bag to the Utah Avalanche Center - if you say DONATE my bag credit.

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please help us out by submitting snow and avalanche observations. You can also call us at 801-524-5304, email by clicking HERE, or include #utavy in your Instagram. In the Logan Area you can get ahold of your local avalanche forcaster, me (Toby Weed), at 435-757-7578

This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always exist.