That's a wrap for Avalanche Awareness Week! Thanks to everyone who attended one of our talks, clinics, classes, or parties.
We need more snow. What snow hasn't been packed out by riders is melting out in sunny terrain or turning into a sandbox in shaded terrain. Your greatest hazard today continues to be hitting rocks, downed trees, and stumps. You can still find pockets of cold, dry snow in sheltered, shaded terrain, but you'll have to work for it. An observer's pit profile from yesterday sums it up pretty well:
The 8500' Tony Grove Snotel reports 29°F and 17 inches of total snow on the ground. It's 30°F at the 8800' UAC Card Canyon weather station, with 20 inches of total snow.
The wind speed increased overnight, with current speeds near 30 mph and a gust of 60 mph. Currently, at 9700' at the CSI Logan Peak weather station, it's 21°F, and the wind is blowing from the west-northwest. At 9500' on the UAC Paris Peak it's 20°F, and winds are from the west-northwest, blowing 28 to 38 mph.
Expect cooler temperatures today with a high of 27°F at 8500 feet, gusty winds blowing from the west-northwest, and a few snowflakes here and there as a cold but mostly dry trough moves through the area. Cooler temperatures and a chance for snow(flakes) remain through Monday, with a return to high pressure by Tuesday. Our next chance for weather is Thursday, but uncertainty remains among the models about whether we'll get a ridge (strengthening inversion and no snow) or a trough (potential for mixing out of inversion and mountain snowfall). I know my vote.
We took advantage of yesterday's nice weather to install new instruments at the Card Canyon weather station. Thanks to Nate Z. and Devon for helping with transport and Travis M. and Chad B. for the installation.
No significant avalanches have been reported recently.
