Announcement: Please visit this
website with information about Responsible Winter Recreation by the Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation.
The holiday season is right around the corner!! Looking for that special something for your partner? or yourself?
Well, we've got an easy shopping solution for you...Buy your gifts at our
Pray for Snow online auction.
This morning, skies are clear and there is another temperature inversion in the mountains. Trailhead temperatures are sitting in the low 20s F while upper-elevations have already climbed to temperatures in the low 30s F. Overnight winds were calm and southwesterly.
Currently, the mountains have roughly 1-2' of snow on the ground though many of the southerly aspects have melted to the ground. While most of the terrain is covered in sun and wind crusts, the best riding still lingers in cold areas of soft settled powder that is protected from the wind and sun.
For today, we'll see sunny skies, light wind, and temperatures in the mid-40s F.
Total snowfall for November at the Alta Guard Station was 51 inches (3.88 inches of water). The average is 68 inches of snow (6.4 inches of water).
The Weather Outlook: Essentially a ridge of high pressure has maintained control of the west, shunting storms well to the north; whereas a few storms lucky enough to squeak through have generally weakened and dived to the south. In the video below of the GFS weather model out a week to 10 days, you'll see one such storm head toward us and then dramatically dive south and west. There are "hints" that the weather pattern may become more progressive around next Friday the 11th. For those unaccustomed to looking at weather maps, look for Utah on the map and associate the pretty colors with storms or unsettled weather. (Apologies to the atmospheric scientists out there.) Note that the loop runs twice on the video.
No avalanches were reported from the backcountry yesterday.
Despite the lean conditions, we continue to receive
excellent observations from the backcountry. These are worth paying attention to as they are highlighting are rapidly-weakening snowpack.
