Is that snow I see?

TL;DR: Two shortwave troughs pass to our south missing northern Utah, one today and one Monday night. A ridge builds its way into the region mid-next week. A promising low-pressure system could bring snowfall to northern Utah later next week.

Nowcast: It is currently 24 F at the top of Alta-Collins with clear skies and light winds. A surface inversion has built in the valley floor from the surface to about ~800 mb. Luckily with the passing of a deeper trough to our south, some weak systems associated with the larger system move their way through northern Utah providing a way for this inversion to mix out.

  

(SPC Soundings: https://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/soundings/. Valley inversion circled in blue showing temperatures increasing with height until ~800 mb. This is the reason for any haze this morning. This inversion should weaken over the next couple of days as weak storm systems slightly decrease temperatures and provide some mixing.)

Short-Term: Nothing interesting to note here, calm weather with temperatures slightly decreasing over the next couple days which will help to weaken any inversion in place.

(Utah Weather Center: https://weather.utah.edu/. The left plot shows high pressure “H” that builds into the region around Wednesday (3am) and the low-pressure system “L” that will quickly kick out the high bringing snowfall to northern Utah later next week. Right plot showing precipitation associated with that low off the Pacific coast.)

Long-Term: High pressure builds into the region around Wednesday next week. Low pressure moves in around Friday along with snowfall. Stay tuned for future forecasts as we learn more about the next storm.

(Utah Weather Center: https://weather.utah.edu/. Long-term models are picking up on snowfall later next week. Totals aren’t important here, the signal is.)

If you are headed in the backcountry visit UAC to #knowbeforeyougo.