Our last regular forecast is Sunday, April 17th. Intermittent forecasts will be issued through April based upon weather conditions which affect avalanche danger.
"More January than January," is how Andy Van Houten described it yesterday: cold, snowy, blustery.
No snowfall was recorded overnight, but storm totals are up to
Upper Cottonwoods: 20-24" (1.38"-1.70" SWE) *snow-water-equivalent
Park City ridgeline: 12-24" (1-2.0" SWE): higher amounts along the northern end of the PC ridge
Ogden mountains: 20-26" (1.64" SWE)
Provo mountains: 6-10"(0.6" SWE)
Skies are overcast with weak warm air advection kicking in another inch or two of snow this morning. Temperatures have followed suit, as many stations are at 24 hour highs in the low to mid-teens. Winds are west to southwest, blowing 15-20mph with gusts to 25.
For today, we'll see a few snow showers this morning with thinning cloud cover over the course of the day. Mountain temps will rise to the mid 20s up high, the mid 30s down low.
Skiing and riding conditions are excellent and "right-side-up" with lower density snow capping the 1-2' of storm snow. Coverage in the upper elevations sits at 80-110" on the ground (60-70" along the south end of the PC ridge) but take caution that the late March warm-up burned many southerly aspects to dirt. Traumatic injury is possible with the thinly veiled stumps and rocks.
Another pulse of snow is expected this evening with 4-8" possible through tomorrow. It's not over.
--Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.--
A cold and windy storm is expected this weekend with unsettled weather on tap for the next week or so.
Ski area avalanche teams reported triggering soft slabs of both wind blown snow and within the storm snow, with some stepping to the old dust layer up to 2' down. These were reported to have been most reactive to explosive use, rather than with ski cutting. Backcountry observers reported only sluffing in the upper few inches of low density snow.
We did hear of one and perhaps two partial burials near Squaretop (along the Park City ridgeline/Canyons periphery) from Tuesday. This (these) avalanche(s) was on a steep northeast facing slope at 9600'.
