Alta, UT 4/6/2013

[Admin]

Day 60: Dense snow.

Today was pretty darned decent, actually, especially for Alta's free annual spring demo day, which had as many vendors as I've seen in a good long while.

It was Bobby Danger, AmyZ, Skidog, Telejon, Marc_C and yours truly today.

The day started off with bright overcast that became darker as the day wore on. The place, however, was only as crowded as a lousy midweek day. While the few there at the opening bell mostly headed for a freshly-opened Ballroom/Baldy Shoulder, we were one of the first (and only) folks to venture out to a freshly-opened Backside.

By 1 p.m., however, heavy snowfall moved in, falling at around an inch an hour. It was an incredibly wet snow, with the rain/snow line just below Snowbird at around 7,500 feet, and it was sticky as hell. Any gliding motion we had enjoyed this morning quickly ground to an abrupt halt. With that being the case we all called it a day at 2:30, saving ourselves for the upcoming storm that is now predicted to drop 25-38" between Sunday afternoon and Tuesday morning.

 

[Bobby Danger]

thats how daddy likes his backside.........smoooooth........

 

[Marc_C]

...saving ourselves for the upcoming storm that is now predicted to drop 25-38" between Sunday afternoon and Tuesday morning.

Unfortunately it's mountain weather - predictions change rapidly. It's now looking like we'll struggle to get a foot out of this storm cycle.

weather

Today's westerlies should continue to favor the Logan area mountains with snow while the central Wasatch sees a skiff to 2". I expect a rain/snow line to remain at 7000' or so. Winds will increase to 20-25mph along the high peaks; temps will be in the mid 20s to low 30s. Tomorrow's cold winter storm has the Uintas written all over it. The storm approaches from the northwest but tragically closes off on itself, favoring, in this case anyway, the north slope of the Uintas and other areas favored by a north to easterly flow. They'll likely see 1-2' with 30-40mph winds through later Tuesday while the rest of us scrape by with perhaps an optimistic 6-10". With the winds as well. Another quick hitter arrives on Thursday.

 

[Marc_C]

A day later.....

 

[Admin]

A day later.....

Don't let that fool you, today absolutely rocks. More later.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note II using Tapatalk 2

 

[Marc_C]

A day later.....

Don't let that fool you, today absolutely rocks. More later.

Well of course. 45 minutes after that webcam grab it was mostly clear.

 

[Admin]

Point is while that webcam photo seems to indicate that it was raining, it was actually snowing quite nicely.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note II using Tapatalk 2

 

[Marc_C]

Point is while that webcam photo seems to indicate that it was raining, it was actually snowing quite nicely.

With a predicted snow line of 7K'-7.5K' I didn't think it was rain - just snow on the cam window that had succumbed to the mid-30's base temp at that time.