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Wondering what happened to the mid-pack PWL? Curious how the December dry spell will play out? Interested in what factors determine future stability trends? Please join UAC forecaster Craig Gordon at 6:00 on Thursday January 11th, at the Kimball Junction library for a FREE State of the Snowpack presentation. More
INFO Skies are partly cloudy.
Winds are generally light from the north-northwest, blowing 10-15mph with gusts to 25. Along the highest elevations overnight, the winds averaged 25-30mph with gusts to 45, but they've lost a bit of steam in the last couple hours. Mountain temperatures are in the single digits and below zero at 11,000'. Wind chill there is -24°F.
Snow report: With an additional 1-3" overnight, storm totals are roughly 5-10" with upwards of 0.40" of snow-water-equivalent. The Ogden mountains picked up 10-15" (0.75"SWE); the Provo mountains generally 5-12" (0.62"SWE) of new snow.
For today, we'll have partly cloudy skies, light winds from the northwest, and temps in the single digits. Increasing clouds tonight.
For tomorrow and through the end of time, I'll only remind you, Be careful what you wish for. We have a very active weather pattern on deck with a series of storms starting tomorrow afternoon. Temperatures warm to the upper teens to low 20s tomorrow as the westerly winds (from the west) amp up and become strong Tuesday afternoon. Light snowfall should begin midday. By the end of the weekend, we'll be measuring the snowfall in terms of feet, not inches.
Avalanche activity yesterday remained spotty and inconsistent. Ski area control teams and observers reported mostly longer running sluffs with occasional soft slabs in the wind zone.
The canary in the coal mine is
Saturday's remotely triggered soft slab avalanche in Main Porter Fork of Mill Creek Canyon (below). A backcountry traveler remotely triggered an avalanche that failed on our PWL (persistent weak layer) of facets a foot deep and 60' wide on a steep northeast facing slope at 9100'. It broke above him and he was briefly carried down the slope.
