I Love It When a Storm Comes Together

 

After fits and starts overnight with convective graupel showers, full-blown frontal precipitation has developed over northern Utah this morning and mountain snowfall rates have really gone through the roof.  Observations from Alta-Collins show .09" of water equivalent and less than an inch of snow through 5 AM, but since then, there's been 0.29" of water equivalent and about 4" of snow.  

Radar at 1433 UTC (0733 MST) shows pretty complete coverage over the northern part of the state.  There are a few holes of lighter precipitation, but for the most part, this is as good as it gets for complete coverage in this part of the world.  

In the upper aves, we were just starting to turn to snow at 7:15 AM with trace accumulations on colder surfaces.  This puts the snow level pretty much at 5,000 feet.  

When I got to campus, it was mainly rain with a few flakes mixed in.  

To the north, a look at UDOT cameras shows accumulating snow on cold surfaces in the Layton area.  We should see continued lowering of the snow levels this morning.

There's no real change in the forecast.  Snow, heavy at times today in the mountains.  Rain changing to snow in the valley.  The NWS Winter Storm Summary from 4 PM yesterday pretty much nails it still.  

Tonight and tomorrow morning, much depends on the post-frontal crap shoot.  

Beyond the ski resorts and upper-elevation backcountry, we are already seeing accumulations along I-80 near Mountain Dell.  

Keeping my fingers crossed that we can get a healthy accumulation there to open up the ski touring, assuming TUNA is ready to go.