A Little Bit of Everything Today

We are in for a wild ride today with a little bit of everything thrown at us thanks to the passage of a spring cold front.

In the prefrontal environment this morning (about 8 am), the Salt Lake Valley and Wasatch Mountains are seeing strong south winds with dust.

A partially obscured Wasatch Range due to blowing dust

At 8 am, temperatures ahead of the front were very mild with a 62ºF reading at the Salt Lake City airport, 40ºF at the base of Alta, and 32ºF at Alta–Collins.

Things are going to change very quickly, however with the passage of the cold front, which is just upstream of Salt Lake City as I write this.  The temperature at the north end of the Great Salt Lake, for instance, is only 38ºF.

Source: MesoWest

Further, radar shows precipitation is moving in.  Some of this is evaporating before it reaches the valley floors, but valley showers and mountain snow will eventually be on the increase.

Source: NCAR/RAL

We may see some snow at bench level late in the day.  Perhaps some thunder too.  You gotta love spring.  Those going skiing today should have an interesting experience.  Dust, wind, some raindrops at low-to-mid elevations (this morning), snow, graupel, and a freeze-refreeze snow surface.