Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Logan Area Mountains Issued by Toby Weed for Sunday - January 7, 2018 - 7:12am
bottom line

Heightened avalanche conditions exist in the backcountry, and human triggered avalanches are possible.

  • Evaluate snow and terrain carefully.




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

The Tony Grove Snotel reports 5 inches of new snow in the last 24 hours, containing 0.5" SWE (Snow Water Equivalent). It's 20°F at 8400' and there's 45 inches of total snow containing 99% of normal SWE . It's 19°F at the UDOT Hwy 89 Logan Summit weather station and there is a light west wind. Several inches of very welcome and nice (although somewhat moist) new snow will freshen things up and greatly improve backcountry snow conditions.

  • The Tony Grove Road is not maintained for wheeled travel in the winter.
  • Shallow snow conditions exist, and we've seen numerous badly damaged sleds recently. The new snow will hide rocks and down trees.
  • Travel cautiously and keep your speed down.

recent activity

No avalanches were reported recently...

  • On 12/26/17, a very lucky 20-year-old rider was rescued by his party after being caught, carried, mostly buried, and pinned against a tree in Boss Canyon near the Idaho State Line in the Franklin Basin Area. View the Report
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

Persistent slab avalanches are possible on steep shady or north facing slopes with poor snow structure. Slopes with suspect poor snow structure exist in previously drifted shallow rocky areas, and in outlying terrain. Sugary faceted snow is so weak in some areas that the few inches of moist snow that fell yesterday might be enough to cause avalanches.

  • Pay attention to possible signs of instability like cracking and whumpfing or collapsing. But remember these signs are not always present when persistent slab avalanches occur, and you have to dig into the snow to confirm or discount poor snow structure.
  • Avoid stiff previously drifted snow in steep terrain near ridges and in and around terrain features like gullies, saddles, rock bands, scoops, and sub-ridges.

  • I triggered some full depth cracking at low elevations in the Wellsville Range yesterday.

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

The few inches of nice fresh snow creates heightened avalanche conditions in many areas, with generally small triggered avalanches possible on slopes steeper than about 30 degrees.

  • Shallow soft slab avalanches consisting of new snow are possible where last week's surface snow was exceptionally weak.
  • Small fresh wind slabs are possible in exposed terrain at upper elevations.
  • Loose snow avalanches or sluffs consisting of dry or fresh moist snow are possible in steep terrain.
  • A ride in even a small avalanche could be particularly dangerous due shallow snow and the potential for being dragged through rocks below.
weather

High pressure will briefly build across the region today. This will be followed by a potent storm system which will impact the region during the middle portion of the week.
Today: Partly sunny, with a high near 34. West wind 8 to 11 mph.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 26. Southwest wind around 10 mph becoming southeast after midnight.
Monday: Partly sunny, with a high near 42. Southeast wind 9 to 14 mph.

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.