Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Logan Area Mountains Issued by Toby Weed for Saturday - December 10, 2016 - 6:14am
bottom line

Significant accumulations of heavy new snow, consistent strong southwest winds, and widespread areas with preexisting weak snow will cause very dangerous conditions and a HIGH avalanche danger in the mountains today. Avoid travel in backcountry avalanche terrain, and stay clear of and out from under obvious and historic avalanche paths and all steep upper and mid-elevation slopes.

  • 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.
avalanche warning

THE FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER IN SALT LAKE CITY HAS CONTINUED A BACKCOUNTRY AVALANCHE WARNING.

* TIMING...IN EFFECT THROUGH 600 AM SUNDAY.

*AFFECTED AREA…FOR THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN UTAH AND SOUTHEAST IDAHO INCLUDING THE WASATCH RANGE NEAR LOGAN...BEAR RIVER RANGE... MOUNTAINS IN BEAR LAKE AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES

* AVALANCHE DANGER…THE AVALANCHE DANGER FOR THE WARNING AREA WILL BE HIGH AT UPPER AND MID ELEVATIONS TODAY AND REMAIN ELEVATED THROUGH THE WEEKEND.

* IMPACTS…DENSE HEAVY SNOW COMBINED WITH STRONG WINDS HAVE CREATED WIDESPREAD AREAS OF UNSTABLE SNOW AT THE MID AND UPPER ELEVATIONS. BOTH HUMAN TRIGGERED AND NATURAL AVALANCHES ARE LIKELY. STAY OFF OF AND OUT FROM UNDER SLOPES STEEPER THAN 30 DEGREES.

BACKCOUNTRY TRAVELERS SHOULD CONSULT WWW.UTAHAVALANCHECENTER.ORG OR CALL 1-888-999-4019 FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION.

THIS WARNING DOES NOT APPLY TO SKI AREAS WHERE AVALANCHE HAZARD REDUCTION MEASURES ARE PERFORMED.
special announcement

Thanks to you our annual Pray for Snow party was obviously a big success, and it worked. The SNOW IS HERE!
current conditions

The storm has created very dangerous conditions and a HIGH avalanche danger on many slopes in the backcountry. Natural and triggered avalanches are likely on many upper and mid-elevation slopes steeper than about 30 degrees...

The Tony Grove Snotel reports lots of heavy snow containing 2.5 inches of water accumulation in the last 48 hours. Temperatures climbed substancially in the mountains yesterday, and I'm reading 29 degrees this morning at 8400'. It's 24 degrees at 9700' at the CSI Logan Peak weather station, with consistent south-southwest winds gusting to around 50 mph early this morning and currently averaging in the upper twenties.

  • 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 if you attempt the drive.
  • 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

There have been no avalanches reported in the Logan Area since last weekend. A skier remote triggered a wind slab avalanche Sunday afternoon as he was walking along the east ridge of Chicken Hill in the Bunch Grass drainage.

Drifting Sunday created sensitive wind slab avalanche conditions in exposed terrain. (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

Natural and triggered storm slab avalanches are likely at upper and mid elevations in the backcountry. Significant accumulations of heavy new snow, sustained southwest wind, and warmer temperatures created a HIGH danger of storm slab avalanches. The prolonged storm is overloading preexisting shallow faceted snow, weakened rapidly last week by a large temperature gradient due to the very cold temperatures in the mountains this past week.
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

Strong and sustained southwest winds overnight drifted snow into lee terrain at upper elevations, and dangerous wind slab avalanche conditions exist in the backcountry. Expect the danger to increase during the day with significant drifting likely to continue.

weather

.A moist westerly flow aloft will remain focused on the northern half of Utah throughout the weekend. High pressure aloft will produce a short break from active weather early next week. The next series of storms will arrive for the latter half of the week.

Weather Forecast: Tony Grove Lake (41.897,-111.6535), Elevation: 8800'
Today: Snow. Temperature falling to around 22 by 5pm. Breezy, with a west southwest wind 20 to 24 mph, with gusts as high as 38 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 3 to 7 inches possible.
Tonight: Snow. Low around 10. Wind chill values as low as -2. Breezy, with a west wind around 23 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.
Sunday: A chance of snow showers before 11am, then a chance of snow after 11am. Cloudy, with a high near 18. Wind chill values as low as -12. West wind 17 to 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.
Sunday Night: A 40 percent chance of snow. Cloudy, with a low around 8. Wind chill values as low as -12. West wind around 21 mph. 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.