Friday: Warm and sunny with temperatures rising into the 30's F. Winds will be from the north and northeast, averaging in the 20's with gusts in the 30's mph in the upper elevations.

Saturday: A weak cold front with partly-cloudy skies and maybe a snow flurry or two. Temperatures in the 20's F with west/northwest winds.

Sunday: Partly-cloudy with temperatures in the 20's F.

In the meantime, backcountry travel remains generally easy with good riding conditions. Some wind and sun damage exists in the alpine and on solar aspects, respectively, but sheltered slopes hold soft recrystallized snow. Snow depths are 3-4' in the upper reaches of the Cottonwoods and 2-3' along the Park City ridgeline. Ogden snow depths are 2-3' while Provo trails with only 1-2' snow on the ground.

Two weeks of cold, clear weather has drastically altered our snowpack where we now have weak, faceted snow and surface hoar on the surface: (McKinley Talty photo)

On Wednesday, UAC staff was finding the weak snow at the surface was reactive to the small amounts of new and wind-drifted snow.

With snowfall forecast for this coming week, this weak snow at the snow surface will likely create widespread and dangerous avalanche conditions.

Right now is an excellent opportunity to take note and begin mapping the variability and surfaces that are currently covering the range, as this will soon enough become the base of our snowpack for the season.

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