Now that's what I call a cold front: winds strong enough to knock a few trees over, temperatures plummeting into the icebox, pyrotechnics and growling thunder, intense graupel and waterfalls of graupel down the cliffs and gulleys (see Colin Gregerson's video below). But at the end of the show, you realize it was all a circus act - you go home with a parting gift, a consolation prize of only 1-4" of new snow (though up to 0.5"-1.25" of snow-water-equivalent). The rain-snow line was around 8-8250'.

As of 5AM, skies are clear, but not for long. Temps are in the teens to single digits and winds from the west-northwest are blowing 15-20mph with gusts to 30mph. The winds remain strong along the 11,000' level with gusts to 60mph. (I did note a gust at 2pm yesterday of 120mph).

We'll see increasing clouds today with maybe a flurry or two up high. Temps will warm to above freezing by tonight ahead of the next storm on tap for tomorrow into Saturday. Today's winds will lose steam for a few hours before ramping up again in the late afternoon. Tomorrow's storm is another weakening atmospheric river event with high rain-snow lines and STRONG WIND from the west. We might be able to squeeze 4-8" inches of high density snow out of it (maybe 0.8-1.3" snow water equivalent); we'll see. The weather still looks active into next week.

Travel conditions remain rough and rugged. Dave Kelly and Nat Grainger described conditions in White Pine of LCC as "a mixed bag of leaves, rocks, melt-freeze crust and damp snow. The trail was supportable, but off trail was a breakable mushy mess." By the afternoon, however, Bo Torrey found surprisingly decent turns on the high density snow and graupel on low angle terrain. Operative words: low angle.