The
Utah Avalanche Center Home page is: http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/
(click on) Utah Avalanche Center in Logan for our home
page
Logan
Hello
and good morning, this is Toby Weed of the
Current Conditions:
We’ve got fantastic coverage and great accessibility from
numerous trailheads across the region this spring. The Tony Grove Snotel reports 83 inches of
total snow containing almost 40 inches of equivalent water, 113% of average for
the date.
Avalanche Conditions:
The season is quickly coming
to a close for me, but just because I’m not out there to see an avalanche
doesn’t mean they won’t happen, and avalanche accidents are not at all uncommon
in the springtime. The point was driven
home this weekend. Just as I was closing
up shop and penning up the season’s year ending report report, news came of an
avalanche accident near
There are a few familiar
sounding avalanche problems to keep in mind if you head into the backcountry
this spring, but the main thing is the human factor….Don’t be blindly confident
in spring snow conditions and continue to stick rigidly to your safe travel protocols. Remember, one at a time crossing potential avalanche
paths while the rest of the party watches from a safe location….Always envision
the consequences of an avalanche in the terrain you’re in. Ask yourself, could you be swept into trees
or rocks below, or could even a small avalanche overwhelm you in that steep
sided gully?
During the later stages and
right after windy spring storms you might trigger freshly formed wind slab
avalanches on steep drifted slopes, mainly at upper elevations. While you are probably used to this problem
after a few months of similar conditions this season, don’t be caught of guard
by a broader or deeper than expected release.
Local cornices are huge
this year! And they’ll certainly
continue to pose a danger this spring, becoming more sensitive or active as
things heat up, especially in the next few days.
After a storm, warming will cause the fresh snow to quickly become saturated and prone to wet avalanching on many steep slopes. Even when air temperatures are fairly cool, solar warming from the intense high angled spring sun may cause sizable wet sluffs on sunny slopes. Even without any new snow, the spring melt may cause the snow to become saturated and loose strength on some steep slopes. It is always good to respect and avoid steep slopes with saturated new snow, as wet avalanches can entrain lots of heavy snow quickly.
Bottom Line:
We have stopped issuing danger
ratings for the season. But, as long as
there is snow on steep slopes in the backcountry avalanches will continue to be
possible, especially during or right after windy spring storms or following or
prolonged warm spells.
The familiar spring weather cycle continues....Very
warm today with a southwest wind increasing…..Windy tomorrow with clouds
building before the next cold Pacific storm scheduled for Wednesday…..
General Announcements:
Check
out the images page for photos of some of this season’s avalanches.
Go to the Avalanche
Encyclopedia if you have any questions about terms I use in
the advisory.
I'm very interested to know what you're seeing out there.
Please e-mail observations to me at uaclogan@avalanche.org or leave me a message
at 755-3638, especially if you see or trigger an avalanche in the backcountry.
We keep all observations confidential.
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.
