Wasatch Weather Weenies

I'm traveling today to climates far from snow and wondering how much of the snow that currently sits at high elevations, mainly on aspects facing the northern half of the compass, is here to stay.  In Utah, most of the energy for melting snow comes from the sun.  We are now in October, beyond the fall equinox.  Those north facing slopes are not receiving much solar radiation anymore.  If we got a warm storm, perhaps long-wave radiation from clouds and condensational warming could eat some snow, but such storms become increasingly rare as we move through October.  Finally, temperatures just aren't very high this time of year, so even on warm days, the flux of energy from the atmosphere into the snowpack is relatively modest.  There's even a cold front coming in Sundayish to help with the effort.  Your thoughts? Is the snow here to stay? 

A storm-chasing Doppler on Wheels (DOW) radar will be coming to the University of Utah in November for the Outreach and Radar Education in Orography (OREO) field program.   The visit of the DOW, operated by the Center for Severe Weather Research and supported by the National Science Foundation, will give University of Utah students a hands-on education in radar operations and interpretation, mountain and lake-effect precipitation processes, and the use of mobile observing platforms for field research.  The DOW last visited campus in fall of 2011.  We had a field day, observing everything from intense fronts pushing through the Salt Lake Valley to lake-effect bands pushing into the Wasatch Range.  During the visit, atmospheric sciences graduate students will plan and lead several DOW field deployments and educational activities for majors and non majors.  We are also planning a major public display of the DOW. More information on these ...

Frank Brown, professor of Geology and Geophysics and Dean Emeritus of the College of Mines and Earth Sciences at the University of Utah died suddenly of a heart attack on Saturday.  It is impossible to put into words the impact that he has had on my college, the University of Utah, and my career, but I'll make an effort here.  If you are or have been a student in the College of Mines and Earth Sciences, Frank fought tooth and nail to make your education as high quality and cost effective as possible.  I know this first hand because I was chair of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences for six years.  I watched Frank tirelessly fundraise for scholarships, attempt each year to find scholarship support for every student in the college with a GPA of 3.0 or higher (and bemoan the fact he couldn't provide more, as well as something for students below that bar), and question every aspect of my budget to ensure money was being spent effectively.  In 2001, Frank w...

I found it tough writing this morning, but I felt it best to do something positive, even if my thoughts are elsewhere. From a snow perspective, there's a great deal going on across the Utahrado nation.  A slow moving, digging upper-level trough has spawned a quasi-stationary band of precipitation that extends across central Utah and northern Colorado.  It is also producing a little lake-effect precipitation southeast of the Great Salt Lake. These features are apparent in this morning's GOES-16 imagery.   The lake-effect is just a little meteorological eye candy, but the frontal band is delivering big time at upper elevations.  Here's a shot from Steamboat.  Quite a pasting at 10,000 feet.   Further, the snow there is likely to continue through the day today.  I suspect there will be some good skiing on the upper mountain later today and tomorrow.

My knee is still talking to me on descents, and I'm sick of hiking up Snowbird, so I elected to go up to Snowbasin today, bag Mt. Ogden, and take advantage of the Needles gondola for a good portion of the descent. It's been about 15 years since I've been on Mt. Ogden.  It's quite a peak, with a stupendous view, so I wonder what took me so long for a return visit. Mt. Ogden from the lower Snowbasin slopes The morning weather at Snowbasin was better than it was over the Salt Lake Valley and central Wasatch where it was raining when I left.  Nevertheless, there were some scattered showers, which made for some picturesque virga shafts. My timing for summiting wasn't great as it was about as cloudy as it would be all day, but I have always liked being on narrow alpine ridges when there is a cool orographic cloud with the base right near the summit.  It creates a cool scene with the clearer skies upwind.  The summit was socked in an frigid.  25ºF w...

Below average temperatures in northern Utah have been few and far between the past few months, but the latter half of September has delivered the cool goods.  Since the 14th, we've only had three days with an above average maximum, and even most of the minima have been below average as well.  Simply splendid! Source: National Weather Service Leaves are starting to go now.  The cell-phone photo below doesn't do them justice as some there are some reds and yellows out there that are really starting to pop.   With snow on the mountains, the feel has been more of October than September, but I'm not complainin'

I became a beer snob when I moved to Seattle in 1989 where there was already an flourishing microbrew scene.  Today, the term "craft beer" might be better since there are many excellent beers brewed by breweries of a variety of sizes.  Some of these beers (and even some breweries) have weather, snow, and ski-related names.  Let's see if we can get a list together.  Here are a few of my favorite-named beers.  Most I've tried, but not all.  Inversion IPA, Deschutes Brewing.  I typically drink IPAs in the summer, but this one takes the sting out of Utah's pollution during the winter. Red Chair NWPA, Deschutes Brewing Snow Cap, Pyramid.  This has long been one of my favorite winter ales, although it is not currently advertised on the Pyramid web site.  Hopefully it will arrive later this fall. Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, Great Lakes Brewing .  I'm a big Porter fan during the cool season.  The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald...