Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Logan Area Mountains Issued by Toby Weed for Monday - December 25, 2017 - 6:49am
bottom line

There is a HIGH avalanche danger on drifted upper elevation slopes in the backcountry. Dangerous avalanche conditions exist at all elevations and human triggered avalanches are likely.

  • Avoid travel in avalanche terrain. Play in the flat meadows and on low angled slopes, well away from the steep hills.
  • Stay off of and out from under steep slopes and obvious or historic avalanche paths.
avalanche warning

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

* TIMING...IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM MST THIS MORNING TO 6 AM MST TUESDAY MORNING.

* AFFECTED AREA...FOR THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN UTAH INCLUDING THE BEAR RIVER RANGE, WESTERN UINTAS, AND ALL THE WASATCH RANGE, INCLUDING THE OGDEN, PROVO, SALT LAKE AND PARK CITY AREA MOUNTAINS.

* AVALANCHE DANGER...THE AVALANCHE DANGER FOR THE WARNING AREA IS HIGH TODAY.

* REASON/IMPACTS...RECENT SNOW AND WIND HAVE CREATED WIDESPREAD AREAS OF UNSTABLE SNOW. BOTH HUMAN TRIGGERED AND NATURAL AVALANCHES ARE LIKELY. STAY OFF OF AND OUT FROM UNDER SLOPES STEEPER THAN 30 DEGREES. AVALANCHES CAN BE TRIGGERED REMOTELY FROM A DISTANCE AND FROM BELOW.

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

We're excited to introduce for the 2017/2018 winter the Utah Avalanche Center podcast, hosted by forecaster Drew Hardesty and produced by KUER's Benjamin Bombard. The podcast will include engaging stories, interviews, and lessons learned - all things avalanche to help keep people on top of the snow instead of buried beneath it - and easily found on ITunes, Stitcher, the UAC blog, or wherever you get your podcasts.
current conditions

Dangerous avalanche conditions exist in the backcountry on Christmas Day. The Tony Grove Snotel at 8400' reports 23°F and 45 inches of total snow containing 102% of normal SWE (Snow Water Equivalent). 17 inches of new snow accumulated Saturday, and a couple more fell last night, with 2.8" SWE at the site since Friday, 12/22/17. It's 18°F at the 9700' CSI Logan Peak weather station, and a west wind is blowing at 15 mph, with gusts to 39 mph.

  • Shallow early season snow conditions exist, and hitting rocks or stumps is a significant hazard. Fresh powder is hiding some big rocks. Travel cautiously and keep your speed down.

recent activity


We received reports of numerous natural, easily triggered, and remote triggered soft slab avalanches across the Logan Zone Saturday 12/23/17.
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

Across the Logan Zone, wind slabs formed on weak preexisting snow. Very dangerous wind slab avalanche conditions exist in exposed terrain at upper elevations, with natural activity and large avalanches possible. Human triggered avalanches are likely on drifted slopes at all elevations.

  • Wind slabs, consisting of stiffer, drifted snow may be chalky in appearance and might produce hollow sounds.
  • Avoid fresh drifts in steep terrain near ridges and in and around terrain features like gullies, saddles, rock bands, scoops, and sub-ridges.
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

As the fresh Christmas snow stacks up on slopes plagued by very weak sugary or faceted snow, persistent slab avalanches are likely even in sheltered areas.

  • Pay attention to possible signs of instability like cracking and whumpfing or collapsing.
  • Avalanches might be triggered remotely, from a distance, or worse, from below.
  • A ride in even a small avalanche could be particularly dangerous now due to hard underlying snow and real potential for being dragged through rocks or deadfall below.
weather

The Christmas storm will gradually exit northern Utah today. A generally dry northwest flow will follow for through midweek.

  • Christmas Day will be breezy in the mountains with 20 to 25 mph west wind. 8500' high temperatures will be around 27°F and 2 to 4 inches of snow is possible.
  • Tonight will be mostly cloudy, with a low around 16°F and 16 to 24 mph west wind, with gusts around 40 mph.
  • It'll be mostly sunny on Tuesday, with a high temperature around 25°F and 10 to 15 mph west wind.
general announcements

Discount lift tickets for Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, Solitude, Deer Valley, Snowbasin, and Beaver Mountain are now available, donated by the resorts to benefit the Utah Avalanche Center. Details and order information here. All proceeds go towards paying for avalanche forecasting and education!

Now is a great time to practice companion rescue techniques with your backcountry partners. Here's our rescue practice video.

Go HERE for a list of UAC classes.

EMAIL ADVISORY: If you would like to get the daily advisory by email you will need to subscribe here.

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you shop from Backcountry.com or REI: Click this link for Backcountry.com or this link to REI, shop, and they will donate a percent of your purchase price to the UAC. Both offer free shipping (with some conditions) so this costs you nothing!

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you buy or sell on ebay - set the Utah Avalanche Center as a favorite non-profit in your ebay account here and click on ebay gives when you buy or sell. You can choose to have your seller fees donated to the UAC, which doesn't cost you a penny.

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 tweet or Instagram.

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 occur.