Tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the Park City Library: Learn about the "Current state of the snowpack... how did we get here? and where are we going." 1255 Park Avenue, Park City, Utah. Presented by the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association and the Utah Avalanche Center.

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I guess if you blinked, you'd never know a weak weather system moved through overnight, but sure enough. Skies are clear and mountain temperatures with the weak cold front are in the upper teens to low 20s. The gusty southwesterlies veered to the west northwest overnight and are now blowing 10-15mph with gusts to 25. Current snow stakes in the Cottonwoods sit at 35-45" with 25-30" along the Park City ridgeline. With a week since the last snowfall, I'll admit the snow is getting a bit rough around the edges: supportable to breakable crusts on the southerlies and wind effect and hard wind-whales in the high alpine. The good news is that soft settled powder exists in the sheltered, shady terrain. It's not really powder snow, per se, but recrystallized snow, faceted snow. A man of boundless curiosity, Peter Donner looked into the origins of the word facet and found, Origin: Early 17th century: from French facette, diminutive of face ‘face, side’ (see face). The working definition is more subtle, "One side of something many-sided, especially of a cut gem." Indeed they are beautiful, facets. We'll be keeping an eye on the surface facets and any lingering surface hoar with tomorrow's quick hitting storm.

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Tomorrow's quick hitter at the very least will sweep the smog out of the valleys and probably produce 4-8" of true powder for the mountains. It's a sharp looking cold front with mountain temps dropping to the upper single digits and a wind shift to the northwest. Post-frontal winds, however, look to remain moderate to strong until evening.