Hello and good morning, this is Toby
Weed of the
Current Conditions:
Mountain temperatures at many sites
hovered just above freezing overnight, with the coldest air trapped in the
valleys and sinks. Clear skies
allowed radiation cooling, and the snow surface will be nicely refrozen this
morning. Yesterday we found some of
the smoothest and most perfect spring corn snow conditions I’ve experienced in
years, and solid snow made it possible to ride practically anywhere. It will be mostly sunny today, with
light and variable winds and high temperatures in the upper
40’s.
Hot tip of the day: It might be worth
your while to walk on dry ground or bushwhack a little to get to smooth
avalanche debris in paths which naturally avalanched near the end of
February. In spring snow
conditions, runout gullies can offer direct access to
high elevation slopes…..Get an early start so you can be heading back to the
yard-work or basketball by
Avalanche
Conditions:
Cooler
weather in the past couple days and decent nightly refreezes have helped to keep
wet avalanche activity in check. No
significant avalanches have been observed or reported over the past few days in
the region.
With
avalanches generally unlikely this morning, you can probably get away with
crossing or passing underneath steep slopes. But you’ll want to continue to follow
strict safe travel protocols, with only one person exposed at a time, and you
need to know when to leave--when the snow starts to soften to the point that you
begin to sink into it. Our biggest concern continues to be potentially large wet
avalanches. All but the most
northerly facing slopes are plagued by now-moistened depth hoar and an overlying
slab. Dangerously large wet slab avalanches are still possible on a few steep
slopes in the region, and they are most probable after slopes are softened by
prolonged solar heating.
You should stay
out from under any obvious glide cracks, which have opened up on some sunny
slopes in the past couple days.
Bottom Line:
This morning there’s a LOW danger, and
avalanches are generally unlikely on most slopes. The danger will rise to MODERATE by mid-morning on some saturated
and melt-softened slopes steeper than about 35 degrees. Human triggered wet avalanches are
possible, especially on sun-exposed slopes in the heat of
Mountain Weather:
Fair conditions will rule the
weather pattern through today.
Mountain temperatures and will be approaching 50 degrees under mostly
sunny skies. Temperatures in the
mountains should hover around freezing again tonight. A southwesterly flow will develop on
Sunday with increasing clouds and prefrontal winds. Several inches of accumulation are
possible in the mountains on Monday morning. A more significant storm will impact the
region on Tuesday and we’ll get another taste of winter, with a foot or more
possible and much cooler temperatures.
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
uaclogan@avalanche.org or leave me a message at 755-3638 if you see or trigger
avalanches in the backcountry. The information you provide may save
lives...
I will update this advisory on Sunday
morning.
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.