Recent Precipitation Extremes

Here are a couple of ongoing examples of precipitation extremes for your entertainment this Thursday.  

We've discussed the heavy snowfall in the Alps in previous posts.  I've found a new winner for extreme snowfall during the event, the Connyalm at 2105 meters in the Gailtaler Alps of East Tirol in Austria, just to the north of the Porzehütte site we've discussed previously.

The time series below shows a remarkable increase in the height of the snowpack (HS) from about 20 cm at about 1800 CDT on 4 December to nearly 300 cm at 1200 on 9 December.  

Source: https://avalanche.report/weather/stations

If you prefer US units, that's an increase in snow depth of about 110 inches in 114 hours (4 3/4 days).  Remarkable stuff.  

The camera at that location was down when I tried to pull it up.  Here are a couple of photos from the region to remind you of the beauty of snow.

Source: https://www.megacam.at

https://www.megacam.at

Shifting gears to Utah, it's quite remarkable how dry it has been since July 1.  From then to yesterday (December 9), total precipitation at the Salt Lake City International Airport was only 1.52 inches, easily the lowest on record.  

Source: NOAA Regional Climate Centers

In fact, there's only one other year under 2 inches for that period since records begain in 1874, 1958 (1.80 inches).  In addition, 1.52 inches is actually less than what Las Vegas averages for July to November (1.92 inches).

The US drought Monitor now shows a huge chunk of the state in exceptional drought, including Salt Lake City and the central Wasatch.  

Forecasts are more optimistic for the coming week than they have been in a while, with a series of troughs coming through.  Let's hope they produce.