Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Logan Area Mountains Issued by Toby Weed for Monday - January 29, 2018 - 7:25am
bottom line

Heightened avalanche conditions exist in the backcountry. Dangerous human-triggered persistent slab avalanches are possible on steep slopes with poor snow structure, as are loose wet avalanches at lower elevations and in sunny terrain.

  • Evaluate snow and terrain carefully.
  • Avoid travel in drifted upper elevation terrain, steep rocky areas with shallow snow cover, and steep slopes with saturated snow.
    I will update this advisory on Wednesday, 1/31/18, before about 7:30 AM.



special announcement

The UAC Marketplace is online. The holiday auction is closed, but our online marketplace still has deals on skis, packs, airbag packs, beacons, snowshoes, soft goods and much more.
current conditions

The Tony Grove Snotel at 8400' reports 28°F, and there's 60 inches of total snow at the site containing 91% of normal SWE (or Snow Water Equivalent). It's 26°F at UDOT Hwy 89 Logan Summit and a northwest wind is blowing around 10 mph this morning. Light freezing rain Saturday night formed a brittle, translucent crust on the snow surface, capping all of last week's nice powder like creme brulee. Heightened avalanche conditions continue to exist on many slopes and dangerous human triggered persistent slab avalanches are possible.


A rime (icing) event occurred Saturday night, capping all the nice powder with a creme brulee crust.

recent activity

No avalanches were reported recently in the Logan Zone.

A skier was caught carried and injured by an avalanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon in the Wasatch Range on Friday, 1/26/18. Here's Trent's video:
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 triggered persistent slab avalanches remain possible on steep slopes, especially those with shallow snow and poor snow structure. Widespread faceted layers appear dormant currently, but a new load from the recent storm may reactivate buried weak layers in some areas, especially on drifted lee slopes.

  • Some drifts likely formed in areas with poor snow structure, overloading weak faceted snow, and dangerous persistent slab avalanches involving old snow are possible.
  • Watch for and avoid drifted snow on steep lee slopes and in and around terrain features like sub-ridges, gullies, scoops, and rock outcrops.
  • 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 have to dig down into the snow to find poor snow structure.
  • Persistent slab avalanches are often triggered from low on the slope, and might be triggered remotely, from a distance or below.
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

Warm temperatures and plenty of sun will create heightened wet avalanche conditions today at lower elevations and in sunny terrain.

  • Avoid travel on or under steep slopes with saturated surface snow.
weather

High pressure will maintain a very mild airmass across the region through Tuesday. A dry cold front will cross the area Tuesday night into Wednesday. High pressure will slowly return late in the week through the upcoming weekend.

  • Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 40. South southeast wind 9 to 11 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon.
  • Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 30. South wind 13 to 18 mph.
  • Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 39. Breezy, with a southwest wind 21 to 26 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph.
general announcements

We have discount lift tickets for Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, Solitude, Snowbasin,and Beaver Mountain. Details and order information here. All proceeds from these go towards paying for avalanche forecasting and education!

The UAC has new support programs with Outdoor Research and Darn Tough. Support the UAC through your daily shopping. When you shop at Smith's, or online at Outdoor Research, REI, Backcountry.com, Darn Tough, Patagonia, NRS, Amazon, eBay a portion of your purchase will be donated to the FUAC. See our Donate Page for more details on how you can support the UAC when you shop.

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

Episode 3 of the UAC podcast is live. We talk with UDOT Avalanche Program Supervisor Bill Nalli on how he and his teams keep the Greatest Snow on Earth from avalanching over the open roads and highways of the state. Check it out on ITunes, Stitcher, the UAC blog, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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

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

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.