Deep February Continues

TL;DR: A wave of heavy snow will help snow stack up today. Snow continues tomorrow in a northwest flow, with potential additional snow on Friday. Lots of snow!

Nowcast: It is snowing heavily under a southerly flow in the central Wasatch right now (10:30 a.m. Wednesday). Radar imagery from the KMTX radar shows precipitation rates > 0.6 mm/hr in the mountains and adjacent valley:

Source: University of Utah Department of Atmospheric Science

This is falling on top of the 6-9" that the resorts received yesterday. Today should feature excellent midweek skiing.

Short-term Forecast: The flow will shift to west-northwest as the day progresses, leading to a decrease in temperatures and an increase in snow-to-liquid ratios. This is a perfect storm scenario, with lighter snow falling on top of the heavy snow that fell yesterday and this morning. One model, the HRRR, calls for an additional 10 inches of snow to fall at Alta today, with snow-to-liquid ratios tending upwards.

Source: University of Utah Department of Atmospheric Science

Expect snow to taper off later on Wednesday and into Thursday, although the pattern will remain unsettled and additional flakes could fall during the day on Thursday.

Mid to Long Range Forecast:

Models call for an additional follow-up wave of snow during the afternoon and evening on Friday. Here is the GFS model valid at 0300 UTC on Saturday (Friday evening).

Source: University of Utah Department of Atmospheric Science

Under a west to west-northwest flow, and cold mountain-crest-level temperatures near -11 °C (bottom left panel), we can expect moderate precipitation rates in northern Utah (upper right). 

Models hint at ridging through the weekend, bringing clear and calm weather to northern Utah.

Enjoy all the new snow!

Backcountry Comments:

If you will be traveling in the backcountry make sure you have the proper equipment and know before you go. For the whole avalanche forecast and all things avalanche head over to our friends at the Utah Avalanche Center.