DOW Data from Friday Night

Here's a sneak peak at some of the Doppler on Wheels data we gathered Friday night.  Below are vertical scans taken looking up Little Cottonwood Canyon from Daybreak.  The reds are where we are getting strong returns from the terrain, which means it's ground clutter and not precipitation.  The oranges are areas where the precipitation rates are the greatest.  At this time, the frontal band is right over Little Cottonwood and the Salt Lake Valley and it is snowing hard everywhere.  

That being said, we see some of the same features that we saw during the storm the previous weekend.  In particular, the peak depth of string radar reflectivities (organge colors) occurs at about mid canyon.  Farther up canyon, the storm shallows.

Later, after the frontal band moves through, this structure persists.  

In particular, note how the strongest/deepest returns are mid canyon.  In this instance, precipitation rates are probably greatest from about the White Pine Parking lot to the High Rustler ridge and much weaker in Albion Basin and the Supreme-lift area.  

It will be fun to diagnose the processes responsible for this storm structure and see if our computer models can replicate it.