Winds on Pre-Laurel Peak: WNW 15-20 Temp 8° F Percent of Normal: 125%

The storm system has finally exited to the east leaving a cold air mass in its wake. 10,000' temps are in the single digits and a frigid wind is blowing out of the NW. Look for mostly sunny skies today, light to moderate westerly winds, and high temps in the upper 20's. Temps will remain cool the next few days, and we should see some clouds on Monday as a weak system passes by to the south. Things begin to gradually warm up on Tuesday followed by progressively warmer temps and sunny skies each day.

With all the wind and intense, but short bursts of precip, it's a little hard to tell how much snow we picked up yesterday. Comparing sites, I'm seeing anywhere from a trace to 2" with some crazy water amounts at the Geyser Pass Trailhead SNOTEL that I'm going to ignore. A few intrepid souls braved conditions up there yesterday and they reported about what you'd expect - a little dust, crusts, hard frozen surfaces, pooled graupel, and lots of wind affect. Some creamy snow can be found in sheltered locations. I'll be headed up today to have a look around but my expectations are low.

I snapped a few pics from my driving tour on Friday during the height of the wind event.

Desert dust:

Mountains obscured by a dusty haze:

The southeast sides of Mounts Tukuhnikivatz (left) and Peale. I was scoping these for their corn potential later in the week. Dust may have stifled that a bit.

Upper slopes on the SE face of Mount Peale (12,700').