Saturday, December 17, 2016

Ho Ho Ho — The Central Wasatch Are Ready for the Holidays

With additional low-density snow overnight, the total snow depth at Collins pushed to 63", just above my 60" threshold for good early season conditions.


Indeed, the upper-elevation snowpack looks better at this point of the season than we have seen for a few years.  Snow water equivalent at the Mill-D North SNOTEL (green line for this season) now sits just above average for the date and higher than any water year since 2011 (that was a huge year and I left it off the graph).


Snowbird looks pretty good too and also sits above average, but does lag 2013.  The water total from the last storm looks a bit high at that site, perhaps due to wind transport, but I think it's safe to say that things are looking good heading into the holiday season.


I expect the conditions today will be very very good.  Alta-Collins got 9 inches with the frontal passage and another 6 inches of cold smoke last night.  The snow is stacked perfectly for flotation and face shots.  Dress warm.  It's now at or below zero above 9500 feet and it may get a bit colder through mid morning.

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