Winter Continues

 It didn't take long yesterday after the front went through for precipitation to change to snow at my place (5,000 ft elevation).  The photo below was taken at 1:52 PM in the afternoon when lots of big aggregates (combinations of two or more ice crystals) were falling.

Aggregates are common in warm storms because ice is "stickier" at temperatures near 0°C.  

By evening the grass was covered, and by morning it looked like proper winter.  Fortunately, the roads are warm and driving to the office this morning wasn't too difficult despite the snow covered roads.  

As I write this, the radar looks quite active, so I anticipate we will see snow continue along the east bench for at least a couple more hours before the valley precipitation becomes more scattered.  

Meanwhile in the mountains, Alta is closed to uphill skiing. The automatic snow interval sensor at Alta-Collins has been a bit erratic for this storm period, but if I blink and throw out what I think is questionable data, it looks like they got 8" overnight Saturday and yesterday and then another 11 inches overnight through 6 AM this morning. So, we'll call it 19".  Total water is 1.6".  I suspect if you are ski touring this morning, you're getting the best of the best when it comes to May skiing.  

The models call for this initial cold trough to move downstream today with a weak ridge moving in this afternoon (emphasis on weak).  That will probably bring a lull to the action in the afternoon with rising temperatures in the valley likely resulting in the snow turning to rain at some point today, even on the benches by mid afternoon.  A wildcard is the possibility of a thunderstorm, which might push the snow levels down temporarily again.  

Then another short-wave trough comes in tonight and lowers snow levels again to near bench level, with another trough dropping down into northern Utah Tuesday night.  From 9 AM this morning to 5 AM Wednesday morning, the GFS puts out another 20" for Alta. 

Winter continues.