Avalanche forecast

Logan

Utah Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

  • Alpine
  • Treeline
  • Below treeline
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Out of date — this forecast expired 5 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Heightened avalanche conditions exist on drifted upper elevation slopes. The danger is MODERATE, and people could trigger slab avalanches of drifted storm snow on upper elevation slopes facing northwest, north, northeast, and east, where winds recently deposited stiffer drifts on steep slopes.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    2
    • People could trigger small avalanches at upper elevations, especially in exposed terrain where winds are creating stiff drifts.
    • Cracking in the snow surface is a sure sign of unstable snow.
    • ​​​​​ In shady, or mostly north facing areas up high, a hard rain-crust is likely to be a future problem, a smooth and slick bed surface with a couple inches of very loose sugary snow on top of it.
    • Even small avalanches could be quite dangerous due to very shallow snow conditions.

    The CSI Logan Peak wind sensor at 9700' shows increasing southwest winds and decreasing wind chill values this morning....

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  • Check out all the upcoming education classes and clinics HERE.
  • Please submit your observations from the backcountry HERE.

Recent Activity

Skiers observed a small natural soft slab avalanche of drifted new snow under the cliffs in Miller Bowl yesterday, (north facing at 8700'). Clouds obscured views of most upper elevation terrain in the Central Bear River Range, and no other avalanches were reported.

Snow and Weather

This week's storm deposited around 14 inches of new snow on upper elevation slopes in the Logan Zone. Light snow is falling in the mountains this morning, but it will be partly sunny and cold today, with high temperatures near 20°F. A west southwest wind will blow along the ridges at 17 to 24 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph, and wind chill values will be as low as -10 °F. The increasing winds will drift the fresh snow at upper elevations creating stiffer wind slabs, and people could trigger avalanches on steep slopes.

At the highest elevations in the Logan Zone, the new snow is stacking up on few inches of loose sugary faceted snow capping a very hard rain-crust from mid November. Sunny slopes up high and most terrain at mid and lower elevations were still bare of snow before the storm....

Additional Info

  • 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.
  • Check your avalanche rescue equipment, change your batteries, and practice often with your backcountry partners.
  • Be very careful, keep your speed down, and stay in control. Encounters with shallowly buried rocks or down trees in the early season have led to many season-ending injuries.
  • The Tony Grove Road is not maintained for wheeled vehicles in the winter season. Yesterday, some people drove 4-wheel-drive vehicles up to the lake, but conditions were apparently getting rather sketchy up high.

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