What Is That?

1500 UTC (0800 MST) 22 Nov 2011 IR Image

That is Hurricane Kenneth, a category 4 hurricane that is now the strongest late season eastern North Pacific hurricane on record.

It is perhaps a sick and demented dream of mine to have a surge of hurricane-related moisture into Utah in November.  Imagine the high-density, heavily rimed snow and graupel that would result in the upper elevations, just what is needed to build a snowpack.

Alas, the moisture from Kenneth is presently forecast by the Global Forecast System (GFS) to surge up through western Mexico and then into New Mexico.

GFS sea level pressure (contours) and integrated water vapor (color fill)
for 0600 UTC 22 Nov – 0600 UTC 25 Nov 2011

Close, but not quite close enough, although this does bear watching to see if the moisture can creep up into the four corners area.  And, in case you are wondering, hurricanes have produced high-mountain snow over the southwest, including the infamous Hurricane Lester in August 1992.