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A strong cold front moved its way through northern Utah over the last 48 hours, bringing heavy snowfall throughout the day yesterday and an additional 1-2 inches of snow overnight. Storm totals are between 10-22.5 inches of snow (containing 0.9-1.93 inches of water), favoring upper Little Cottonwood. Temperatures are in the single digits to low teens °F, and winds have begun to transition to east-northeasterly, gusting to 25 mph at 10,500 feet and near 60 mph at 11,000 feet.
Today, the low-pressure system will continue to track south, bringing most of the associated precipitation with it as an easterly flow sets over the area. This will result in mostly cloudy skies, with a chance for light snow throughout the day but no significant precipitation. The easterly winds will continue to increase, with peak wind speeds expected late morning into early afternoon. Expect gusts up to 35 mph along exposed ridges and peaks at the mid elevations, and gusts up to 55 mph at upper elevations. Temperatures will climb into the low to mid-30s °F.
With all of the fresh snow, travel and riding conditions should be excellent today - But seize the opportunity while you can, as winds have shifted more easterly and will continue to increase later this morning and into the weekend; easterly winds are notorious for wreaking havoc on the Wasatch.
Widespread sensitive soft slabs of both new snow and wind-drifted snow were observed in the backcountry yesterday, including some smaller catch-and-carry occurrences in places like
El Rollo. See photos below. Most of these avalanches were D1-1.5 in size, ranging between 15-50 feet wide and running 15-100 feet long. On the solar aspects, most of these avalanches failed 10-18 inches deep on the firm new snow, old snow interface. Outside of the solar aspects, some of these avalanches failed shallower in the snowpack within a density change within the snow, the wind-drifted snow, or on top of the new snow old snow interface. In slightly steeper terrain, there were long-running sluffs that entrained a lot of snow.
Ski resorts reported similar soft slabs and long-running sluffs.
There were reports of signs indicating a natural cycle that occurred both the prior night and during periods of higher PI throughout the day.
Photo of the El Rollo catch and carry (L. Dunn)
