Stormy Week Ahead

TL;DR: A strong storm in the Pacific will penetrate inland today bringing snowfall to Northern Utah. The longwave trough associated with this storm will affect most of the Southwest United States through Wednesday. Another trough merges into the existing longwave later in the week bringing more chances for snowfall. The longwave trough affecting us for the first part of this week is bringing warm moisture from our south which will continue to keep temperatures rather warm and snow levels around 6000-6500 ft.  

Nowcast: It is currently 32 F at the base of Alta and 23 F at the top of Collins. Expect winds to remain moderate throughout the day from the South. Wind magnitudes are trending downward throughout the week. 

(Alta: https://www.alta.com/weather) 

Short-Term: A longwave trough will bring snowfall to Wasatch ski resorts today and rain to the valley. Model spread is quite large for this storm as it is difficult to tell where the best dynamics will occur. Snowfall is expected to start Monday morning and will continue throughout the day. Snow accumulations range from 4-8” by Tuesday morning for Wasatch Resorts. Tuesday will see a brief break in snowfall until it starts back up late Tuesday night. Snowfall will continue on and off through Wednesday. At the 700 mb level, southerly winds will dominate the region Monday-Wednesday, then switch to westerly on Thursday.  

(Univ Utah: https://weather.utah.edu/. Time Height plot showing the dry break in the weather we see Tuesday during the day. Wind barbs show southerly wind and the blue line shows a high snow level.) 

Long-Term: Another trough dips into the region on Thursday and merges with the existing longwave. This extends the period of unsettled weather through the rest of the week. It is difficult to tell where the best dynamics will fall within this large system, so expect spotty snowfall for the remainder of the week as this low-pressure system migrates through. Snow levels dip down to the valley floor by Thursday night as temperatures trend downward throughout the week. 

(Univ Utah: https://weather.utah.edu/. Top Left: Temperature, Top Right: Wet-Bulb Zero level, Bottom Left: Wind, Bottom Right: Snow to Liquid Ratio. This product shows temperatures dropping throughout the week and strong southerly winds switching to westerly by Thursday with decreasing magnitude. Snow levels can be interpreted by Wet-Bulb zero levels, snow levels will be ~500-1000ft below.)

Backcountry Comments: With new snowfall and strong winds make sure you knowbeforeyougo and visit UAC before heading into the backcountry.