Currently: Precipitation started late last night with rain in the valleys and wet snow falling in the mountains above 7500 feet. As of 6 a.m. only about a half inch of wet snow (0.2-0.3 inches of water) has fallen with maybe about 2 inches of snow falling at the highest elevations.
Mountain temperatures this morning are mostly in the mid 30s F. Westerly winds at ridgetops are averging 10 mph gusting 17 mph.
Today: Snow and rain will continue through the morning with rain below 7500 feet. By mid day most precipitation will taper off and end tonight as dry air enters the area through the weekend. Winds today will continue from the west at similar speeds. An additional 1-3 inches of snow should accumulate
Next week: A very promising storm is on schedule for Tuesday night into Wednesday. It will bring cold air and some snow to the valley by Wednesday morning with a decent amount of snow in the mountains.
The
Week in Review can be found by clicking
here.
Avalanche activity this week has mostly been wet slides involving snow that fell last Friday and then very wet snow that fell Wednesday.
Yesterday a snowmobiler in American Fork Canyon triggered a shallow wet avalanche that released as a slab and was sliding on a recently formed ice crust.
Further north in Little Cottonwood Canyon, there were several decent sized wet avalanches on south facing slopes. One under the Hellgate cliffs dribbled onto the road. The main weather factor with these slides was the lack of a refreeze Thursday night. Ski Patrols reported small wet loose avalanches as well.
