Prospects for Weekend Powder

After last weekend's powder fest, this past week has been a bit of a let down.  With a good slug of moisture  impinging on the Pacific Coast this week, I had hopes that perhaps we'd squeeze more snow out of the leftovers than we did.  C'est la vie.  Nevertheless, there's still some snow to be had and perhaps more on the way for later in the weekend.

The 2-week snowfall history for Alta pretty much shows how good we had it the previous week, and how quiet it has been this week.  Note the behemoth dumps on the 20th and 21st, and then again last weekend.

Image: NOAA/NWS

Last weekend was near the pinnacle of deep-powder skiing and the images are still etched in my mind.

It doesn't get any better than this.  

Since then, however, it's been fairly quiet in the Cottonwoods, although 2-6" fell last night according to the Utah Avalanche Center.  I'm sure the turns are fun, but I'm feeling greedy now that the end of ski season is starting to creep into sight.

Remarkably, however, they really got pounded yesterday in the Ogden-area mountains, which received 10-15", so one option for deeper powder is to hit Powder Mountain today or do some ski touring up north. It will be essential, however, to be thinking northerly aspects as the much of the terrain up there is at lower elevations and we're dealing with a relatively mild airmass and a spring sun now.  Powder is unfortunately perishable.

Saturday looks dry, but the models are bringing in a weak trough for Sunday.

Uncertainty remains, however, concerning the track and timing of the trough and amount of snowfall, so keep your fingers crossed and your eyes on the forecast.