Winter finally arrived in the region bringing a decent shot of snow to the mountains, and even an inch or two to the valleys yesterday. Lower North Creek picked up 6" of new snow and upper elevations likely received up to a foot of new snow. Ridgetop winds during the storm blew in the 20-30 mph range from the SW before backing off and shifting to more northerly later in the day.

Today will be a glorious day in the mountains with fresh snow, sunshine, and high temperatures in the low 20's. Look for increasing clouds tonight with another shot at a few inches of snow on Monday, with another chance on Thursday.

It will be a great day to dust off the boards or fire up the machine and ease into winter but low snow coverage dictate extreme caution and travel beyond roads or grassy slopes and meadows is not recommended. Prior to this storm, snow cover was mostly limited to northerly facing, shady slopes above about 9500', and depths ranged from a few inches to 18" or more at the higher elevations. Most sun-exposed slopes were bare. Needless to say, coverage is quite thin, and barely covered rocks and logs lurk just beneath the surface.