Nowcast - A band of high, thin clouds drifts through the region at o'dark thirty, as a growing Wolf Moon wags its tail, anxiously waiting in the wings to shine its bright light and kick off the weekend. Winds blowing 5-15 mph from the north barely spin remote weather station anemometers. High pressure is sliding to the east while a notable temperature inversion remains in place as temperatures register in the mid 30's °F along the ridges and bottom out in the low 20's °F near the trailheads. It's still low tide, but riding and turning conditions are excellent.
Forecast - Look for mostly sunny skies for a good portion of the day with high temperatures climbing into the upper 30's °F. Winds veer to the southwest late in the day, bump into the 20's and 30's near the high peaks, ushering in a thickening band of clouds.
Futurecast - A warm, moist system slides into the Uinta zone for New Years Day, delivering a nice reset for the eastern front. I'm thinking 4"-8" of snow with .50" H2O, before a break on Friday and Saturday. More storminess in the queue for late in the weekend into early next week.
Travel Conditions - Snow depths range from 2-4 feet across the range and the Uinta's are white. The Christmas Eve raincrust is keeping you off the ground, delivering a mostly supportable base. Solar slopes have taken on heat, but mid and upper elevation polars are still cold and firing. Four-wheeled vehicle access to Mirror Lake Highway (HW150) is shut down, while SR-35 (Wolf Creek Pass) remains open.
It's wheelie good out there as the weekend storm significantly improved spirits.
Low-angle, upper elevation, north facing meadows with no overhead hazard are the ticket, providing deep and supportable turning.
Ted was on the east side of the range near Whiskey Creek and found good riding, acceptable coverage, and a quiet snowpack.
No new avalanche activity to report, but Weston D was in the Wolf Creek hood yesterday and noted shooting cracks out in front of his machine along with a handful of audible collapses or whumphs.
