This weekend was depressing to watch as a skier.  None of it was unexpected, but it was still a sad sight.  Snow levels climbed up to the peaks on Saturday, then finally crashed early Sunday morning, but by then, most of the storm was thru.  We have seen enough snow showers to bring some accumulation to a few areas.  A bit of surprise shower brought 6" or so to the Upper Cottonwoods overnight.  The skiing there should be good this morning with very little crowds! Looks beautiful up there right now: 

Overall, we saw 2.6" of liquid to Upper LCC.  Very healthy amounts, but only amounted to 10" of snow in the very highest elevations.  At lower elevations, it was almost exclusively rain.  The rain wasn't without its casualties. Powder Mountain was forced to shut down more than a week early due to runoff from the rain exposing dangerous drainages throughout the mountain.  It was a sad end to what has been a very difficult season up there.  Let's hope next year is more normal!  

The good news is that we no longer have to deal with tropical moisture raising snow levels to absurd levels.  We have a good storm on tap for later this week, so don't put away the powder boards just yet.  A break today and Tuesday.  A very weak system will clip far northern Utah on Wednesday, although this will mostly just be clouds with perhaps a stray mountain snow shower.  Then, the main system arrives on Thursday.  The looks like a decently strong system with plenty of cold air, so snow levels should drop all the way down to valley floors.  Right now, the timing of this system would be a Thursday morning arrival with heavy snow thru the afternoon and evening.  Thursday night into Friday would be NW flow with enhanced snowfall in the Cottonwoods and other NW favored areas.  

If we look at total QPF, we can see healthy amounts being forecasted for the Upper Cottonwoods: 

1-2+ inches of liquid being portrayed.  Let's assume 15:1 ratios.  That could mean 15-30" of snow.... I'm not saying it's a likelihood, but it's a possibility so stay tuned.  

After today, I'm not going to be forecasting for this storm as much as for storms in mid-winter... Partially because it's spring and I'm transitioning back to sleeping past 5:30am again... and partially because I believe that these spring storms are bonus systems for the dedicated powder hounds who keep after it long after others have moved on.  We'll see if we can keep this on the DL just a bit...  Tax Day 2015 was the ultimate bonus storm (after another terrible season).  Let's hope for a repeat this year!  

GFS and EC in good agreement that we will clear out on Friday, then have a bit of a break over the weekend.  Another system could impact the area early next week although details are vague at this point.  We will keep an eye on it, but it does not look as strong as this week's system.  

Evan | OpenSnow