Many ski areas are now closed to uphill travel in order to prepare for winter operations. Resort uphill travel policies can be found
HERE>. Mill Creek Canyon Road will be closed November 8-10th for road work.
It felt downright Cascadian in the mountains yesterday, but THIS was another good base-building storm for the Wasatch Range. Yesterday's 3-6" of heavy dense snow was followed by another 4-6" of lower density snow overnight. It's still lightly snowing. Storm totals are below. Skiing and riding conditions will be excellent today although early season conditions still exist. Base depths are 2-3'. Mountain temperatures are in the mid to upper teens with winds blowing 15-20mph from the west. The highest anemometers are spinning 45mph with gusts to 60.
Storm totals:
Little Cottonwood: 8-12"/1.17"-1.30" SWE (snow water equivalent)
Big Cottonwood: 6-8"
Park City ridgeline: 4-8"
Ogden mountains: 8-12"/1.50"-2.0"SWE
Provo mountains: 6-8"/1.15"SWE
For today, expect light snow showers with mountain temperatures rising to the upper 20s up high, the mid 30s down low. Winds will back to the southwest and lose steam until the afternoon. By then, we can expect winds to pick up again with hourly averages of 20-30mph, a hint of what's to come.
A large Pacific storm churning off the coast will move inland and bring heavy snowfall and strong winds to the state early Tuesday through Thursday. Early forecasts suggest upwards of 2'+ of snow for the mid-week storm.
One observer noted a natural soft slab avalanche yesterday 6-8" deep on a northeast facing slope at 9500'. Of greater concern to me, however, was a report of a large collapse and shooting cracks high on north facing Sunset Peak in the upper reaches of Big Cottonwood canyon. This hints at weak, older faceted snow still lingering in the high thin shady terrain.
Snowpack situation: We are building a good solid foundation in nearly all of our terrain. Greg Gagne gives a good snowpack summary below. This accounts for the wide majority of the snowpack. My uncertainty hangs with the isolated patches of lingering weak faceted snow overloaded by the new snow and wind in steep rocky terrain above about 10,000'. I would absolutely approach this type of terrain with caution today.
