Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Logan Area Mountains Issued by Toby Weed for Tuesday - January 10, 2017 - 7:00am
bottom line

There is a HIGH avalanche danger in the backcountry, and large natural avalanches are likely. The danger may rise to EXTREME later today or tonight on some drifted upper elevation slopes. Stay off and out from under all slopes steeper than 30 degrees. Avoid potential avalanche runouts, and historic avalanche paths.




avalanche warning

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

* TIMING…THROUGH 6PM WEDNESDAY

* AFFECTED AREA…THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN UTAH, TO INCLUDE THE WASATCH RANGE, THE BEAR RIVER RANGE AND THE MOUNTAINS OF SOUTHEAST IDAHO, THE WESTERN UINTAS, AND THE MANTI-SKYLINE PLATEAU.

* AVALANCHE DANGER…THE DANGER IS HIGH

* IMPACTS…HEAVY SNOWFALL AND STRONG WINDS, COMBINED WITH RAIN ON SNOW AT THE LOWER ELEVATIONS WILL CREATE WIDESPREAD DANGEROUS AVALANCHE CONDITIONS. AVOID BEING ON OR BENEATH STEEP SLOPES.

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.

current conditions

The Tony Grove Snotel at 8400' reports 22 degrees F with 13" of new snow and 2.4" SWE (Snow Water Equivalent) in the last 24 hours. There's 83" of total snow containing 152% of average SWE. It's 15 degrees F at the CSI Logan Peak weather station at 9700', with 15 mph southwest winds gusting to 41 mph. Southwest winds mellowed for several hours last night, but are increasing again this morning and are forecast to strengthen further and be strong in the mountains again today. Very dangerous avalanche conditions exist at upper and mid elevations, with triggered and natural avalanches likely.

recent activity

Natural wet activity was widespread at lower elevations yesterday, with loose wet and wet slab activity observed in Logan Canyon. With a brief clearing yesterday evening I could see evidence of natural avalanches on the east side of the Wellsville Range. A large natural avalanche from Gibson Canyon in the Wellsville Mountain Wilderness appears to have hit Maple Bench pretty hard after running around 2600 vrt'.

The natural avalanche in Gibson Canyon was visible from across Cache Valley yesterday evening. (1/9/17)

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

Very dangerous wind slab avalanche conditions exist on drifted upper and mid elevation slopes, and the danger will continue to increase as strong southwest winds pick up and continue during the day. Natural and triggered wind slab avalanches are likely on drifted slopes steeper than 30 degrees. The avalanche danger could rise to EXTREME on some drifted upper elevation slopes.

Storm slab avalanches, including the heavy new snow are also likely today, and these may occur in more sheltered areas.

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

Persistent slab avalanches, failing on buried weak layers, are likely on many slopes.

  • Recent storms buried weak surface snow made up of surface hoar and/or near surface facets. On slopes where this weak snow was preserved by last week's light snow and not destroyed by warmth or wind, triggered and natural avalanches are likely. Avalanches failing on surface hoar can occur on surprisingly low angled slopes, and many experienced people have been fooled by this tendency.
  • Weak layers of small-grained near surface facets exist above and below rain-crusts at mid and lower elevations, and dangerous avalanches stepping into old snow are possible.
  • Avalanches could be triggered from below! Remotely triggered avalanches are possible.
Avalanche Problem 3
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

Warm rain on cold snow is never a good thing, and it created very dangerous conditions at lower elevations yesterday. Natural loose wet avalanches in some cases triggered wet slabs in descent.. Dropping temperatures overnight helped to stabilize the saturated low elevation snow, but warmth today and possibly more rain could cause the danger of wet avalanches to rise back up to HIGH. In which case, natural wet avalanches will again be likely.

weather

The active weather pattern will continue with another energetic system moving through mainly northern Utah Tuesday and Wednesday. One final disturbance will move through the region Thursday, followed by high pressure heading into the weekend. Expect snow and windy conditions today, with a high temperature at 8500' of 30 degrees F and 30 to 35 mph southwest winds, gusting to 50 mph. 9 to 13 inches of snow could accumulate by evening. Temperatures should drop to 27 degrees tonight, strong southwest winds will continue, and another 9 to 13 inches of snow is possible. Snowfall and west southwest winds will continue through the day tomorrow and into Wednesday night with another 8 to 16 inches of accumulation possible.

general announcements

The early season is a great time to practice companion rescue techniques with your partners. Companion Rescue Practice Video

The National Avalanche Center just released their Avalanche Problems Explained video... Not all avalanches are made the same. As a result, travel and decisions in avalanche terrain are influenced by the kind of avalanche you expect to encounter. Watch HERE

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


Discount lift tickets for Beaver Mountain, Snowbasin, Powder Mountain, and the Central Wasatch resorts are donated by the resorts to benefit the Utah Avalanche Center. Details and order information 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.

Your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know please help us out by submitting snow and avalanche observations. You can call us at 801-524-5304, email by clicking HERE, or include @utavy in your Instagram. In the Logan Area you can reach me at 435-757-7578

We will update this advisory regularly on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday mornings by about 7:30.

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.