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Blog: Week in Review (Dec 16-22)

Greg Gagne
Forecaster

Week in Review - December 16 - 22, 2017

Before proceeding with the week in review, it is first worth quickly reviewing the season thus far. This Autumn was characterized by a handful of small storms sandwiched between extended periods of high pressure with cold, clear weather that created a very weak and shallow snowpack comprising loose, sugary (“faceted”) crystals. This is a very dangerous setup for avalanches once there is enough of a load on top.

In the central Wasatch there is currently about 2-3' in upper elevation shady aspects. Southerly aspects were bare ground prior to the Wednesday Dec 20 storm, with thin coverage on southwest and southeast.

- Saturday Dec 16 the Wasatch mountains picked up a trace to 2” of very low-density snow.

- Quiet weather Sunday through Tuesday allowed the thin snowpack to continue to weaken.

- Strong southerly winds on Wednesday ushered in a cold front that arrived late Wednesday afternoon. Storm and water totals by Thursday included

Provo mountains - 3” / 0.3”

Central Wasatch - 4-9” / 0.3-0.4”

Ogden mountains - 2-5” / 0.05 - 0.25”