We'll remember this storm.
Prior to the onslaught, we were on track to be the driest November on record (since 1945) at the Alta Guard station. Good friend and Keeper of the Ancient Scrolls Mark Saurer's snow numbers for November are 58” (4.53” SWE/Snow Water Equivalent) and year to date is 88” (SWE-7.32”). 1976 had the driest November of 13.6". (
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Total snow since Monday the 25th is as follows:
Wasatch Mountains: 50-70" snow (3.5 - 4.34" h20)
Park City Ridgline: 30-40" snow (2.5 - 3.0" h20)
Ogden Mountains: 40-50" snow (4.0 - 4.8" h20)
Provo Mountains: 24-33" snow (1.6 - 2.1" h20)
Skies are mostly cloudy ahead of a relatively messy weather week - no bluebird, no blockbuster, oh well.
Temperatures have climbed out of the icebox and are now in the mid to upper 20s.
Southerly winds played the spoiler yesterday afternoon and into the overnight hours, blowing 25-30mph with hourly averages in the 40s and 50s along the highest elevations. (pc:Grainger) Direct sun, too, had its way with the southerly aspects and will be crusted this morning. Still, excellent riding conditions today will still be found in the mid-elevation sun and wind sheltered slopes.
For today, expect mostly cloudy to overcast skies. A trace to an inch is possible. Mountain temps will be in the upper 20s; winds moderate from the southwest. A couple inches of snow possible mid-week and again over the weekend.
Ski area control teams in the Cottonwoods and along the PC ridgeline continue to trigger large and dangerous avalanches in mid and upper elevation shady slopes.
In the backcountry, however, yesterday was the first day of no reported avalanches since Wednesday (and that list is too long to mention. You can sift through them HERE.) These avalanches have best been described as "eye-opening" and "terrifying".
The avalanche heat map below conveys the reported avalanche activity on an aspect/elevation rose that somewhat mirrors our danger rose of the past week. You'll see that most of the activity involved upper elevation north through east facing slopes...terrain that held old, weak faceted snow from October and November. CAUTION! - one should not consider 'blank' areas to necessarily be safe...and there is always a bias in reporting.
