Utah Daily Snow
By Evan Thayer, Forecaster Posted 1 year ago January 30, 2023
Frigid
Summary
We are entering a quiet, but very cold stretch of weather this week as high pressure takes control. Storms will try to break down the ridge this weekend into early next week for our next chance for snowfall.
Short Term Forecast
Brrrr.... Very cold this morning. The coldest morning for many areas of northern Utah in 21 years! Peter Sinks has dropped to -62F this morning. Logan dropped to -29F. Lots of other areas are in the single digits or below zero:
Yesterday's "storm" did well up north and brought some snow to the Central Wasatch. Highest amounts were at Sundance and Brighton with 10" and Solitude with 9". Elsewhere was in the 4-6" range. The band of snow never really made it to southern Utah so Eagle Point and Brian Head reported no new snow which is a shame as I hoped at least a few inches would fall.
It looks like we'll be done now for snowfall in January. Alta Ski Area has now had their snowiest November, December and January in at least 12 years. Three consecutive well-above-average months. It's no wonder they already have 471" of snow on the season. Brighton is reporting a season total of 477". Amazing numbers considering that statistically, this is about the halfway point in the snow season for the upper Cottonwoods! Wow!
We will remain cold but will be dry this week. Good chance for some inversions in the valley as high pressure takes control. We will see gradual warming, especially at elevation. Otherwise, it's a quiet week of mostly sunny skies to end January and begin Feb.
Extended Forecast
We will see systems try to break down the ridge a bit by this weekend. We have a piece of energy for about Saturday. It will be very weak by the time it reaches Utah. At best, we probably just see a few showers and clouds. I don't expect any real accumulation.
Then, another storm is possible for around Monday, Feb 6. This system also doesn't look overly strong, but should do a bit better at breaking down the ridge and may bring us a chance for some real accumulation. The next 10 days in the GEFS trends show both of these storms and do bring over an inch of liquid in the next 10-days:
Our OpenSnow blend of models also shows these two storms and approaches an inch of liquid total:
This is the blend of models that creates our forecasts in the app and website. So while we are entering a dry period, there's some type of end in sight already. Then, if we look at the full 15-day EPS ensembles, we can see even more chances for snow after Feb 10:
Unless we see a major change in the models, I think I am going to take tomorrow off from writing a forecast. I will return on Wednesday with my monthly snowpack update and fully wrap-up and insane January.
Evan | OpenSnow