SCHUSS IOP4 Cold Front

Weather never sleeps.  We have a cold front moving through northern Utah and deployed the Doppler on Wheels (DOW) this morning to our Baccus observing site along SR-111 to take a look at the frontal precipitation bands and their interaction with the Oquirrh and Wasatch Mountains.

Forecasts from yesterday's 18Z NAM indicated that the surface front would pass overnight and that the precipitation would lag several hours behind and be on the doorstep of the northern Salt Lake Valley by about 1200 UTC (0600 MDT).

Indeed that is the case this morning, although the precipitation is a bit faster than expected.  The cold front is presently (as of ~0430 MDT) pushing into Utah county, but the precipitation lags somewhat behind.

With the precipitation moving in faster than expected, our 0400 MDT departure with the DOW seems a shade later than optimal, but the team has arrived at Baccus and is warming up the radar.  At 0445 they report lightning in the vicinity.  The band is moving slowly southward, so hopefully they will get some good data.