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Forecast for the Logan Area Mountains

Toby Weed
Issued by Toby Weed on
Tuesday morning, March 22, 2022
Areas with unstable snow, dangerous avalanche conditions, and CONSIDERABLE danger exist on northerly facing upper and mid elevation slopes 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. The snow is stable and the danger LOW this morning in sunny terrain, but this week's warming trend will probably cause a genneral increase in avalanche danger.
*Careful snowpack evaluation, cautious route-finding, and conservative decision making are essential for safe backcountry travel.
Low
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High
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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 over the weekend added 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 if they venture into this terrain again today. The snow is stable and the danger LOW this morning on most sunny slopes, but this week's warming trend is likely to cause a general increase in avalanche danger.
The 8400' Tony Grove Snotel reports 24°F, and there is 72 inches of total snow at the site, containing 84% of normal SWE for the date. North-northwest winds are blowing around 20 mph at the 9700' CSI Logan Peak weather station. Spring is officially here and the upcoming week will bring fair weather and increasingly warm temperatures to the Logan Zone.
  • Today expect sunny conditions, with high temperatures at 8500' around 36°F, and 10 to 20 mph north-northwest winds.
  • It will be clear tonight, with low temperatures around 17°F, and 11 to 14 mph northwest winds, switching from the southwest after midnight.
  • It will be mostly sunny again tomorrow, with high temperatures around 42°F and 13 to 16 mph west winds.
  • Looks like fair spring weather with increasingly warm temperatures through the week. Mountain daytime temperatures are likely climb above 50°F by the end of the work week, and it'll be rather toasty this weekend with the warmest temperatures yet in 2022 in the forecast.
Recent Avalanches
  • A rider in a party of 6 was side-hilling on a north facing slope at around 8700' in Crescent Lake Canyon (Franklin Basin) when he triggered a 2' thick soft slab avalanche that failed on our widespread buried PWL. He was caught, carried around 150' and mostly buried, with only top of helmet and waving right arm out of the snow. He was quickly recovered by his companions, but his sled sustained some significant damage.
  • Two human triggered avalanches that failed on the same widespread buried persistent weak layer were reported Saturday from just north of the Idaho State Line. The avalanches were triggered unintentionally by the same party in the Franklin Basin Area on a north-northeast facing slope at around 9200' in elevation. Report is HERE
  • A reported large avalanche was triggered by snowmobile riders on Friday, also on a north-northeast facing slope at around 9000,' in St. Charles Canyon, in the Snowslide Canyon Area, and we received a report of a similar, sled triggered avalanche that occurred north of the Idaho State Line in the Egan Basin Area of Beaver Creek, also on Friday.
I rider was mostly buried and he and his bent and broken sled had to be excavated by companions in an avalanche accident yesterday in Crescent Lake Canyon, in the Franklin Basin Area just south of the Idaho state line.
This is the crown of one of Saturday's triggered slab avalanches in the Franklin Basin Area. The avalanche failed on a buried persistent weak layer of faceted snow.
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
On slopes facing the north half of the compass in some areas, people are likely to trigger dangerous slab avalanches failing on a sugary 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. This week's warming temperatures could cause increasing instability on slopes plagued by this buried persistent weak layer. The warming will soften existing slabs and crust layers, and increase creep and glide rates, which could cause natural avalanches to become more possible and triggered avalanches more likely.
  • 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.
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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