The Utah Avalanche Center Home page is: http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/
(click on) Utah Avalanche Center in Logan for our home page
Logan
Hello and good morning, this is Toby
Weed of the
This is not a prank: The Franklin
Basin Road is closed to wheeled vehicles due to muddy season conditions, and you
must ride snowmobiles over snow and not on mud or sagebrush. Motorized access to the backcountry is
severely limited if not impossible from this and other melted-out
trailheads. You can park up on the
paved,
Current Conditions:
Big dump
and you’ll need goggles and a snorkel for the first time all season!…Sorry, but
you would be the April Fool if you thought you’d find anything resembling
stellar snow conditions on most slopes in the backcountry. Yesterday’s sunshine, mild temperatures,
and sustained west winds did a number on the previously pleasant snow
conditions. Realistically, your best bet for finding shallow powder stashes will
be on north facing and sheltered slopes at upper elevations. After yesterday’s warm temperatures, most
slopes will sport breakable crusts this morning and then become softened with
daytime warming. Clouds will build
today, and it will be mild and breezy in the mountains. Warm air will ride in on pre-frontal
southwesterly winds, which will be in the 20-30 mph range on the ridges. Snow
showers are likely in the afternoon, but little accumulation is expected.
Avalanche
Conditions:
I noticed a couple small fresh
snowmobiler triggered wind-slabs yesterday near
Sustained westerly winds in the last 36
hours raked the snow from exposed slopes and drifted it into fetch areas. The gradual surface drifting and slab
build-up might fool some, but most of us realize that there are now stubborn
drifts and recently formed hard slabs to contend with. These can make for dangerous April Fools
tricks, allowing you to get out on them before releasing. In addition to the
expected lee slope loading zones near ridge lines, you might find tricky stiff
drifts and wind slabs today in and around terrain features like rock outcrops,
sub-ridges, and gullies. You should avoid being fooled by any obvious drifts on
steep slopes, and as always be cautious if you encounter stiff, wind-blown snow.
Despite increasing cloud cover, mountain
temperatures are forecast to be warm today in advance of a weak storm. Loose wet avalanches will become more
likely on all steep slopes as the snow heats up during the day. These will entrain all of last week’s
fresh snow and could reach a significant size, especially on big slopes. Although you can normally escape
wet point-release avalanches that you trigger, they can be quite dangerous to
anyone in the line of fire. Best to
avoid problems and leave when the new snow on the slope you’re on gets sloppy or
saturated.
Bottom Line:
This morning there’s a MODERATE danger in the backcountry, and you
still could trigger stiff wind slab avalanches on drifted slopes steeper than
about 35 degrees. You are most likely to encounter these in exposed terrain at
upper elevations, on slopes near ridge-lines facing northeast, east, and
southeast, and near terrain features like gullies, sub-ridges and rock outcrops.
With warming temperatures likely
today, the danger of wet avalanches will again rise to MODERATE on any slope with saturated surface
snow. By afternoon, you might
trigger loose wet avalanches entraining significant quantities of heavy snow,
especially on steep sustained slopes.
Mountain
Weather:
Expect
increasing clouds, mild temperatures, and breezy conditions in the backcountry
today. Snow showers are possible
this afternoon, with an inch or so of accumulation possible. The mountains could pick up
General Information:
Check out photos of avalanches in
the Logan Area on our images
page.
Go to the Avalanche
Encyclopedia if you have any questions about terms I use in the
advisory. I also recommend the recently-released Media Page, which
shows the forecast danger for our coverage areas across the state.
Please e-mail me at
[email protected] or leave me a message at 755-3638 if you see or trigger
avalanches in the backcountry. The information you provide may save
lives...
This will be the last regularly
scheduled advisory for the season, and it will expire on Monday morning. I will update this advisory on weekends
and as conditions warrant.
The information in this advisory is
from the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content.
This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always
occur.
