Currently: It's beautiful to see some snowfall no matter how little. As of 5 a.m. it looks like most weather stations are showing a dusting of snow. Temperatures range from the teens to low 20s F. Winds from the west are averaging 4-10 mph gusting to 15 mph.
Today: Snowfall today will only bring an inch or two of snow. Winds will shift direction and come from the north this afternoon bringing cold air that will prevent temperatures from warming any today. Expect mountain temperatures to remain in the teens F. Winds will increase this afternoon and blow 20 mph.
Looking ahead: The rest of the week and weekend will have dry and cool weather. Another storm should arrive late Sunday night or early Monday morning. This one looks more promising.
Today's snow is capping a wide variety of snow surfaces which will determine future avalanche conditions as more new snow accumulates. There is an incredible amount of variability in the old snow surface which consists of weak facets, crusts of varying thicknesses and hardnesses, wind eroded and sculped snow, and some areas are simply covered in tracks.
Yesterday in the Salt Lake area mountains, Drew was on Reynolds peak and provided a good summary of snow surface conditions in his observation
HERE. Two regular observers on Monday on the
PC Ridgeline and in
White Pine also gave good summaries of similar findings.
The challenge in the future is that having such a wide variety of snow surfaces means there will be a wide variety of stability from slope to slope and the pattern will be complex and tricky to map.
There have been no avalanches reported
