Several inches of heavy snow fell in upper-elevation terrain last week, capping some wet snow from October still on north-facing slopes above about 8000' in elevation. A few clear, cold nights changed the heavy, damp snow into sugary, faceted grains, and now the snow is quite weak on high slopes facing all directions. A strong temperature gradient is driving rapid sublimation and "drying out" the snow, turning the snow grains into weak sugary facets. A few inches accumulated in upper elevation terrain on Friday. Although we found a bit more than a foot of sugary snow in upper-elevation terrain earlier in the week, there is still nowhere near enough for safe recreation.

*This from this morning's NWS forecast discussion: "An approaching early winter storm system will cross the region today. Cooler and stable conditions will follow for Monday, with another system expected midweek.
A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for the mountains of northern and central Utah through 11 PM this evening. In the Logan Zone, snow is expected, mainly before 2 pm. The snow could be heavy at times. High temperatures are expected near 24° F. Winds will blow from the southwest at 5 to 10 mph, becoming west-northwest in the afternoon. The chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 3 to 7 inches is possible.