Logan

Intensifying southwest winds and heavy snow are rapidly causing a rising avalanche danger today in the backcountry. The danger will quickly rise to CONSIDERABLE on drifted upper and mid elevation slopes. As heavy snow piles up, loose and soft slab avalanches involving new storm snow will become increasingly likely. Natural activity is possible, especially this afternoon during periods of particularly heavy snowfall. Also, there are areas on upper elevation northerly facing slopes where a sugary persistent weak layer lurks near the ground, and a person could trigger a large and dangerous avalanche. Continuing heavy snowfall and strong southwest winds may cause HIGH danger to develop tonight on some upper elevation slopes, with significant natural activity becoming more likely.

• Avoid steep wind drifted slopes, and stay clear of avalanche paths and runout zones.
• Evaluate snow and terrain carefully. Use caution while route finding, and make conservative decisions.

Two riders were caught and carried, and one of them was partially buried in an avalanche just north of the Idaho State Line on Saturday afternoon 12-7-19. Here's the report.

On 12-3-19, a solo skier unintentionally triggered a good sized avalanche failing on the sugary persistent weak layer near the ground in the west half of Miller Bowl south of Tony Grove Lake. The avalanche on a north facing slope at around 8700' was around 2' deep and at least 150' wide. report is HERE

It's 27°F at the 8400' Tony Grove Snotel this morning, and there is about 5 inches of new snow, with 0.6" SWE in the past 24 hours. I'm reading 35 inches of total snow containing 105% of normal SWE for the date. It's 21°F at the 9700' CSI Logan Peak weather station, and southwest winds are blowing about 30 mph, with a 50 mph gust early this morning. We found very nice fast powder conditions in the Logan Zone in the past couple days, even on low elevation, lower angled, and sunny slopes. Unfortunately, a persistent weak layer consisting of weak sugary Halloween snow lurks under a thick supportable slab on many shady upper elevation slopes.

Expect snow in the mountains today, with 5 to 9 inches of accumulation possible. 8500' high temperatures of around 28°F will fall to around 22°F during the day, with 15 to 18 mph west-southwest winds. Snow will continue and become heavier tonight, with 7 to 11 inches possible and stronger west-southwest winds, 15 to 20 mph with 30 mph gusts, low temperatures rising to around 28°F by morning. Snow is likely to continue tomorrow and tomorrow night, with 4 to 8 additional inches of accumulation. High temperature tomorrow will be around 24°F, and continuing southwest wind 15 to 24 mph. Looks like snowfall will continue through much of Saturday. Dangerous avalanche conditions will probably last through the weekend.

Thanks to the generous support of our Utah ski resorts and Ski Utah, we have discount lift tickets available. All proceeds from these go towards paying for avalanche forecasting and education! Get your tickets HERE.

Need a Christmas present for your favorite backcountry partner? Get one of these cool t-shirts to support the UAC and other avalanche centers across the U.S. HERE

The Tony Grove Road is not maintained for wheeled vehicles in the winter, and it is snowpacked, narrow, and icy in places. You could easily get stuck in deep snow, and it doesn't look like anyone was able to drive very far up recently. Hikers, cross country skiers, snow bikers, dogs, sleds, and 4x4s share the road this time of year, so be nice and keep your speed down around others.

It's key to head into the early avalanche season with the proper mindset. In this podcast, we talk with UAC program director Bo Torrey. Bo talks about particular risks unique to the early season, tips and tricks for knocking the rust off your early season rescue skills, and charts out the path forward with avalanche education. HERE