With generally stable snow conditions, avalanches are unlikely and the danger is LOW in the backcountry today. Get an early start, so you can get off the snow early before it is softened by seasonal midday warmth. Avoid and stay out from underneath overhanging cornices. If you start sinking into soft saturated snow, it's time to change your route, get off and out from under slopes steeper than 30°, or head home. Use normal caution.
Avoid and stay out from underneath overhanging cornices, especially during the heat of the day. The cornices are sagging and buckling due to the heat, and some are naturally calving off large chunks... In some cases, the warmth has softened the previously drifted snow, and people could trigger fairly large cornice falls.
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Conditions are quite a bit different this weekend than last, with much colder temperatures and much more stable snow in the backcountry. Last weekend's exceptionally warm weather caused a fairly widespread natural wet avalanche cycle in the Logan Zone, with large wet slab and wet loose avalanches observed, especially widespread in the Wellsville Range.
A large natural wet slab avalanche from last Saturday (3-26-22), likely triggered by a wet loose avalanche overrunning the slope, in Bird Canyon off Mendon Peak in the Wellsville Mountain Wilderness.
Check out all the recent backcountry observations and many recent avalanche reports from across Utah HERE.
Temperatures climbed close to freezing overnight at upper elevations, and I'm reading 28°F at 9700' near the summit of Logan Peak. Colder temperatures in the last few nights put a hold on the meltdown and formed a pretty solid and thick melt-freeze crust on top of the saturated snow. In this refrozen state, wet snow is stable and avalanches are generally unlikely. With some cloud cover today greenhousing is possible, and seasonal daytime warmth will probably soften up the surface crust. If you start sinking into wet snow or observe signs of wet snow instability, it's time to reevaluate your route so that you avoid steep terrain.
The 8400' Tony Grove Snotel is not updating this morning, but yesterday afternoon there was 57 inches of total snow at the site, containing 73% of normal SWE. South-southwest winds are blowing around 25 mph at the 9700' CSI Logan Peak weather station, where overnight temperatures were a bit below freezing and are rising this morning, and it's already 29°F.
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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.
