I've been out of town for the past week and it sounds like it has been an eventful one in Salt Lake City.
Yesterday marked the 21st day with a maximum temperature of 100˚F or higher, tying the all-time record. There was also that incredible fire in Parley's Canyon, which due to heroics by fire crews and a remarkable aerial assault, may have been tamed. I hope that is the case.
I've been visiting family and spending some time enjoying the Adirondack Mountains. It has been a fun return to the homeland, although it has been quite humid, making for some sweaty hikes.
Any trip to these parts is a walk down memory lane for me. I last hiked Cascade Mountain, one of the Adirondack "High Peaks" with my father in 1979 in an October snowstorm.
Forty-two years later, Andrea and I ascended the trail, which other than being snow-free this time, was still rocky and rugged.
IThe weather on top was better this time and we could linger and enjoy the view. Below is a photo of the high peaks region from the summit, with Mt. Marcy, the highest peak in New York, near the center.
For the skiers out there, we made a quick stop at Whiteface, which has the most lift-served vertical (nearly 3200 feet) and some of the better fall line skiing in the east. It is also known as "iceface" due to the cold temperatures and hard snow.
The fun and games are, however, almost over. I return to Salt Lake tomorrow to prepare for what looks to be a very challenging fall semester.
Don't leave out the cold front on 8/6 that brought with it poor AQ for the next 5 days and the highest 1-hour PM2.5 reading (110 ug) at Hawthorne of the year!
ReplyDeleteGood luck this semester, I hope it is less challenging than you fear. Curious to see what tomorrow's convection will bring.
ReplyDeleteSPC's day 2 outlook provides one of the most exciting discussions I've seen for northern Utah in a long while: "Vertical wind profiles with up to 45 kt effective bulk shear will support some supercell structures in central through northern UT ... a SLGT risk might be warranted in day 1 updates".
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that worries me about tomorrow's setup is moisture, especially considering the very dry airmass currently in place. I fear tomorrow's southerly flow may not come early enough/last long enough to bring good moisture into northern Utah before the front moves through in the afternoon/evening. Then again, our more "perfect" days often get ruined by morning cloud cover - though I wonder if there will be enough remaining smoke tomorrow to maybe have a similar effect. Lots of variables at play here...
Looking at some models, if we get any sort of sun this morning I'm wondering if we might find ourselves with a nonzero tornado threat in northern/central Utah with low LCLs and some decent shear and helicity values. As usual, cloud cover/instability is probably the biggest limiting factor, but if we can keep advecting moisture and instability into northern Utah...lets just say today looks like it could be very interesting around here.
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