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Forecast for the Logan Area Mountains

Toby Weed
Issued by Toby Weed on
Sunday morning, March 20, 2022
Periods of heavy snow and drifting will cause rising avalanche danger in the backcountry today. Areas with dangerous conditions and CONSIDERABLE danger exist on northerly facing upper and mid elevation slopes. On slopes with poor snow structure and unstable snow steeper than 30°, people could trigger dangerous slab avalanches, up to two feet deep and a couple hundred feet wide, failing on a buried persistent weak layer of faceted snow. Rain may fall on the snow at lower elevations, and small loose wet avalanches are possible on steep slopes.
*Careful snowpack evaluation, cautious route-finding, and conservative decision making are essential for safe backcountry travel.
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Weather and Snow
Dangerous avalanche conditions and areas with unstable snow exist in some areas, mainly on northerly facing upper and mid elevation slopes. Heavy snow in early March overloaded slopes with buried persistent weak layers consisting of sugary faceted snow, and additional accumulation and drifting today will add weight and depth to an existing slab layer. Dangerous avalanche conditions exist on northerly facing slopes with this poor snow structure, and people are likely trigger dangerous avalanches again today.
The 8400' Tony Grove Snotel reports 31°F, and here is 72 inches of total snow at the site, containing 84% of normal SWE for the date. The 9700' CSI Logan Peak weather station is still not updating, but the wind is blowing 10 to 15 mph out of the southwest on James Peak this morning. A spring storm with periods of heavy snow, rain possible on the snow at lower elevations, and drifting from fairly strong south and westerly winds will cause rising avalanche danger in the backcountry today.
  • Today expect snow, with 3 to 7 inches of accumulation possible on upper elevation slopes, high temperatures at 8500' around 33°F, and 15 to 25 mph west-southwest winds with 40 mph gusts, veering from the northwest in the late morning.
  • Expect snow showers to tapper off and gradually clearing skies tonight, with low temperatures around 11°F, and blustery, 15 to 25 mph north-northwest winds driving wind chill values as low as -6°F.
  • It will be mostly sunny tomorrow, with high temperatures around 30°F and 14 to 18 mph west-northwest wind.
  • Looks like fair spring weather with increasingly warm daytime temperatures through the upcoming week.
Recent Avalanches
  • Three human triggered avalanches that failed on a buried persistent weak layer were reported yesterday from just north of the ID state line. Two were triggered unintentionally by the same party in the Franklin Basin Area on a north-northeast facing slope at around 9200' in elevation. Another reported large avalanche was triggered by snowmobile riders, also on a north-northeast facing slope at around 9000,' in St. Charles Canyon, in the Snowslide Canyon Area.
  • We received a vague report of a similar, sled triggered avalanche that occurred somewhere in the Logan Zone on Friday. We're still hoping to get a few more details on this one.
  • Last weekend and again early last week, people triggered a few sizable soft slab avalanches on the south side of Providence Canyon, where avalanche conditions remain rather sketchy. The avalanches above 8000' in elevation in north facing terrain failed on a very weak buried persistent weak layer of faceted snow. A few were triggered remotely, from a distance away. The largest was 12 to 20" deep, around 300' wide, and like the others, only ran a few hundred vertical feet.
The second avalanche triggered by the same party on a subsequent run was bigger than the first.
This is the crown of one of yesterday's triggered slab avalanches. The avalanche failed on a buried persistent weak layer of faceted snow.
One of several recent human triggered avalanches on the south side of Providence Canyon.
Check out all the recent backcountry observations and many recent avalanche reports from across Utah HERE
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Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Last week's heavy snow created a cohesive and harder slab on widespread preexisting layers of very weak faceted snow. In some areas, the overload of heavy new snow was just enough to activate these layers and cause dangerous slab avalanches. More snow and drifting is expected today, which will continue to load slopes with poor snow structure. On slopes facing the north half of the compass in some areas, people are likely to trigger dangerous slab avalanches failing on a buried persistent weak layer. Although becoming less frequent, observers in the Logan Zone last week reported signs of instability in some areas, including audible collapsing and cracking.
  • In some isolated areas, avalanches still might be triggered remotely or from a distance.
Very weak faceted snow is buried and preserved in many areas. Poor snow structure exists where a slab of harder snow sits above these buried layers of loose faceted snow, and in some areas, stability tests show unstable conditions.
Avalanche Problem #2
Wet Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Rain may fall on the snow at lower elevations and small loose avalanches of saturated surface snow are possible in steep terrain.
Additional Information
  • Now is a great time to practice your avalanche rescue skills. Thanks to the generous support of Northstar, the Franklin Basin Beacon Training Park is up and running. The park is located directly west of the parking lot and is open for anyone to use. All you need is your beacon and probe. Please do not dig up the transmitters.
  • Always follow safe backcountry travel protocols. Go one person at a time in avalanche terrain, while the rest of your party watches from a safe area. (practice anytime while traveling on or under backcountry slopes steeper than 30°)
  • Check your avalanche rescue equipment, change your batteries, and practice often with your backcountry partners.
    Check slope angles, and to avoid avalanche terrain stay off of and out from under slopes steeper than 30° and adjacent slopes. Video Here
General Announcements
Special thank you to Polaris and Northstar...Video Here
Who's up for some free avalanche training? Get a refresher, become better prepared for an upcoming avalanche class, or just boost your skills. Go to https://learn.kbyg.org/ and scroll down to Step 2 for a series of interactive online avalanche courses produced by the UAC.
  • Check out all the upcoming education classes and clinics HERE.
  • Please submit your observations from the backcountry HERE.
This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done. This forecast is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This forecast describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.
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