Too hot for January

TL;DR: Warm this week with a building inversion. An atmospheric river to our west should shake things up come Thursday. 

Nowcast: 

Temperatures sat in the mid to high 30's (F) this morning at 9:00 am local, and have rose all the way up to mid to high 40's as of 11:00 am local. (Sorry, I am writing this kind of late). The top of Little Cottonwood hovers around 38 F, which is rather absurd for January 28. Take a look for yourself below:

Salt Lake County / Canyons Surface Temperature at 11:00 Local: wrh.noaa

PM2.5 concentrations are on the rise as of this morning, and I'd expect this trend to continue as temperatures look to be warm in the week ahead as a high pressure ridge sits atop Utah (see second picture below). 

MesoWest Utah Air Quality: https://utahaq.chpc.utah.edu

University of Utah Department of Atmospheric Sciences

Short-Term:

The ridge continues to build across Utah all the way through Wednesday, and most likely Thursday. With it, we can expect low winds, warm temperatures and no snow. Temperatures in the valley will reach as high as 55 degrees F and 37 F up at Alta. We can certainly expect an inversion to build. 

The glimmer of hope comes on Thursday and Friday, when valley rain and canyon snow should push things out into the weekend. All things considered, this inversion won't last long. 

Long-Term:

Current forecast confidence suggests a sudden shift away from this week's ridge as early as Thursday. This savior comes in the form off a current atmospheric river pattern around the Pacific Northwest that will eventually move south and push away our dreaded high pressure system. 

Too early to say, but I might as well leave you all with this to inspire some hope. 

Hope on the horizon: https://weather.utah.edu

Backcountry Comments:

Lots of funky stuff to see all around the backcountry. Observations ranged from wet loose avalanches (again, see title) to skier / rider triggered avalanches. 

A few that caught my attention are this rider triggered avalanche off of Mt. Tuscarora, a variety of slides across the Flagstaff face in Days Fork, and the various pits dug around Cutler Ridge towards Ben Lomond (#1 and #2).  

Please take a look for yourself and follow the guidance from the good folk at the Utah Avalanche Center, and be sure to be prepared with the right gear and safety equipment if you plan to spend time in the backcountry.