Under partly cloudy skies, the mountain temperatures are frigid compared to the past couple of days. Current temperatures are in the single digits to mid-teens °F, and wind chills range from -4 to -17 °F. Winds are cranking from the northwest, and upper elevation anemometers are spinning 10-15 mph, gusting into the 30's across many upper elevations. Above 9,500', the northwest wind is blowing 30-40 mph, gusting into the mid 40's.

Today, we can expect the clouds and sun to play cat and mouse for the day. Temperatures will climb into the mid to upper 20's °F. Winds are forecasted to back to the southwest and decrease in speeds later today. After sundown, southwest winds will pick up once again ahead of a potent storm off the Oregon coast.

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch that's in effect from now until Monday. Hopefully, it will transfer into a Winter Storm Warning as the storm approaches. The storm lands in Utah Monday afternoon with a frontal passage sometime late in the day. Snowfall will start late on Monday, and the heaviest precipitation will be associated with the frontal passage. As the front moves overhead, we will set up a northwest flow for Tuesday into Wednesday with unstable orographic enhancement, and areas favored by a northwest flow could do very well from this storm.

Below is a loop of the GFS 500 millibar height and vorticity and a total precipitation loop showing the storm moving into northern Utah Monday afternoon and the total water we can expect from the storm. Can you tell I am excited?