Big Blow Update

I'm back from skiing.  A couple hours of grim pickins was enough for me.  I'd rather garden and crack open a cold one to celebrate St. Patricks Day.

As anticipated, strong surface winds are developing today.  The biggest gust thusfar today, 94 miles per hour, was recorded on Ogden Peak just after midnight.  There was also a gust of 92 miles per hour at 1215 MDT.

Curiously, winds at Alta weren't too bad through 1 PM when I bolted for warmer climates.  In fact, Mount Baldy has only been gusting into the 30s over the past few hours, which is pathetic compared to the lowlands to the west.  For example, the peak lowland gust thusfar was recorded out in Dugway Proving Ground where their Causeway observing site recently hit 64 miles per hour.

Winds have been stronger thusfar today in the West Desert and the Tooele Valley than the Salt Lake Valley.  We can't get a good view of dust plumes from satellite because of the cloud cover, but UDOT's Grassy Knolls camera shows there's some out in the West Desert.

Things are only going to get more interesting from here.