March Delivers

Tl;Dr: More snow today, a break on Friday, more snow Saturday and Sunday. 

Nowcast: 

Winds blow from the south atop Little Cottonwood Canyon at a modest speed of 25 mph with gusts at 40. Those winds will continue throughout the morning, ushering in our next storm that will deliver 3-7" of new snow by the time chair lifts stop spinning today. Not bad, considering all of the snow the Wasatch has received this past week (see Michael's post from Tuesday). Temperatures sit in the high teens to low twenties, and winter is far from over. 

As of Tuesday, March 26, Alta officially passed their 43-year average snowfall when it hit 545" for the season. Yahoo! 

Short-Term:

Snow should start falling later this morning, with a big initial push right around 0900 - 1000 local. This front should linger throughout the rest of the day before tapering by tonight with snow in the forecast for tomorrow, Friday March 29. 

Here's what 1600 local looks like on the HRRR - you can see .25 inches of water by the end of the (resort) ski day, and with snow to liquid ratios of right around 18, that should amount to at least 5" of snow.  

HRRR initialized 1000 UTC per ATMOS Weather 

Things look to be dry tomorrow with perhaps some in and out flurries before the next wave of snow starts to knock on the door as early as Friday evening. 

https://weather.utah.edu/

Long-Term:

As stated, we have another storm rolling in to the Wasatch Saturday and Sunday. Looks like there might be another hit of moisture on Monday, too. 

More data per Professor Powder 

Spring in the Wasatch is the absolute greatest! 

Backcountry Comments: 

Yesterday's avalanche danger was mostly moderate, but please remember spring conditions change fast. Especially with all of the new snow we have gotten, there are still several reports of soft slab / new snow avalanches across the Wasatch. 

For all things backcountry, go over to the Utah Avalanche Center to get the latest safety and travel advisory.