Summary:

Fresh snow abounds after 1-2 feet of snow fell in Utah mountains since Monday morning.  We dry out and warm up starting today with Spring skiing conditions likely this weekend into early next week.  Storms could return later next week.

Details:

Holy cow! I've run out of superlatives to describe yesterday.  "Unreal" is the one that keeps rolling off the tongue.  Personally, I chose to ski Solitude with a buddy of mine and it was other-worldly.  Everything I've heard suggests that you could not go wrong yesterday, no matter where you went.  The cold front performed exactly as expected and dropped 6-12" of snow on almost all resorts.  This was on top of 6-12" from Monday afternoon and evening.  That put 36-hour totals at 1-2 feet!  The only exceptions seem to be Sundance, which did well in a southerly flow Monday but only saw 3" from the cold front and PCMR which also reported 3" despite both it's neighbors, Canyons and Deer Valley, reporting 10" and 8" respectively.  So who knows, but PCMR riders seemed to be happy so perhaps it was deeper than their snow report lets on.   Anyway, everybody else did great.  It is nice to see a storm that is an equal opportunity provider... Seems like we've been missing those this season as most storms have targeted specific areas.

Hopefully you made it up yesterday.  On Friday morning I posted this in my discussion before leaving for Telluride, "Still a bit early, but 6-12″ seems reasonable for now… If things go our way, certain favored areas (Cottonwoods) could see more….  Tuesday should be a great powder day!"  On Monday night, I drove 7 hours through snowstorms just to make sure I would be back in time.  If you followed my advice and took the day off from work...

Today we are all cleared out already and cold air is left in the system's wake.  Here is a look at temps across the Salt Lake valley  and east toward the Cottonwoods/PC:

It's cold... but that's winter for ya.  Not too far off of where we are supposed to be.  The cold air should preserve the snow for at least this morning.  But it will warm up quickly, and the high sun angle is caustic this time of year.  If you want more powder, get out there early today.  Another thing to keep in mind is wind on the upper ridges today.  There could be some strong gusts.

Warm and sunny from late today through the weekend into next week.  We are now in meteorologic Spring and the Wx will reflect that.  Go out and have a parking lot bbq this weekend!  Bring the lawn chairs!

Next chance for storms is next week -- probably Wednesday or Thursday (3/11 or 3/12)... Models have been consistent in bringing energy into the area, but less consistent with any of the details.  It's over a week away, so no point fretting over it now.  CFS supports a flip back to stormier weather along the coast.  Notice the drier-than-normal conditions for week 1, then the wetter-than-normal conditions developing for week 2:

The next week will feature me just providing daily updates on how this potential new trough is looking in models.  I'll post a snowpack analysis tomorrow...  Enjoy!

Evan | OpenSnow