Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Logan Area Mountains Issued by Toby Weed for Saturday - January 20, 2018 - 7:16am
bottom line

Heightened avalanche conditions exist in the backcountry, and in most areas the danger is MODERATE. Human-triggered avalanches are possible. Pockets with more dangerous persistent slab avalanche conditions and a CONSIDERABLE danger exist in shallow, rocky areas and in outlying terrain that picked up more new snow.

  • Evaluate snow and terrain carefully. Make conservative decisions.
  • Avoid travel in steep rocky terrain with shallow snow cover.
    I will update this advisory by 7:30 am Monday, 1/22/18



current conditions

The Tony Grove Snotel at 8400' reports 7 inches of new snow, with .6" SWE. It's 16°F, and there's 56 inches of total snow at the site containing 94% of normal SWE (Snow Water Equivalent). It's 17°F at the UDOT Hwy 89 Logan Summit weather station, with mostly calm winds. Should be a good powder day, since the snow density lightened up overnight, and the surface should be nice and fluffy.

Pockets with dangerous persistent slab avalanche conditions may exist in shallow areas with more new snow and existing poor snow structure. With only a few inches of heavy new snow yesterday, a couple parties reported audible collapses and terrain with shallow and very poor snow structure in the northern Bear River Range west of Bear Lake.

recent activity

A couple close calls occurred in the Logan Zone last weekend. No avalanches were reported since then.

  • On Saturday, 1/13/18, a rider was caught but ended up on top of the debris pile in a relitively small avalanche near Naomi Peak. View Report HERE
  • On Sunday, 1/14/18, a couple riders were on the slope when they triggered a large hard slab avalanche. One rider was able to outrun the avalanche, while the other lost his sled and was caught and carried to the bottom of the slope, but miraculously was not buried in the deep debris. Report HERE

Paige and Kory looking at the broad crown of Sunday's large sled triggered avalanche in upper Providence Canyon near Logan Peak.

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

Dangerous persistent slab avalanches, 2 to 3 feet deep, are possible on slopes with poor snow structure.

  • Pay attention to possible signs of instability like cracking and whumpfing or collapsing, but remember these signs aren't always present when avalanches are triggered, so you you have to dig to find poor snow structure.
  • Persistent slab avalanche conditions are likely to persist, especially in shady areas with shallow overall snow cover.
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 storm snow is causing normal heightened avalanche conditions in the backcountry. Fresh wind slabs, soft storm slabs, and loose avalanches are all possible in steep terrain.

  • Wind slabs that formed yesterday are buried and obscured by a few inches of lighter snow on top.
  • Watch for and avoid fresh drifts on steep lee slopes and in and around terrain features like sub-ridges, gullies, scoops, and rock outcrops.
  • Soft storm slabs and loose snow avalanches or sluffs entraining the new snow are possible in steep terrain.
  • A ride in even a small avalanche could be particularly dangerous in areas with shallow snow, due to the potential for being dragged through rocks.
weather

A cold and moist storm system will slowly cross Utah today. High pressure will build briefly Sunday night, followed by a weak storm grazing northern Utah on Monday. A stronger storm is expected during the latter part of next week.

  • Today: Snow likely. Cloudy, with a temperature falling to around 14 by 8am. Wind chill values as low as zero. North northeast wind 10 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.
  • Tonight: A 40 percent chance of snow, mainly before 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 10. Wind chill values as low as -8. North wind 17 to 20 mph. New snow accumulation of around an inch possible.
  • Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 21. Wind chill values as low as -8. North wind 10 to 18 mph.
general announcements

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.

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.