Wasatch Weather Weenies

Impressive rainfall numbers are coming in from this latest storm period.  Total accumulated precipitation since very early Friday morning (~5 AM MDT 26 April) is now over 1.1 inches at the University of Utah. A look at accumulations for the Salt Lake Valley region shows the largest accumulations in the Tooele Valley and Magna areas and secondarily along the east bench of the Salt Lake Valley.  Water equivalent totals in the central Wasatch are actually lower than at the high precipitation sites along the east bench.  If you are wondering, my guestimate for Alta-Collins based on automated measurements is about 6 inches of creamy snow from 0.85" of water.  I suspect snowfall amounts at the base are lower given that some of the precipitation may have fallen as rain yesterday.   Let's talk about some of the oddities of what is happening this morning.  We operate profiling radars in the Salt Lake Valley (at Highland High) and at Alta.  Each peers up th...

Faculty from the University of Utah Department of Atmospheric Sciences won two major University-wide awards this year with Dr. Kevin Perry Receiving the Presidential Societal Impact Scholar Award and myself a Distinguished Teaching Award. Kevin's award stems from his work illustrating the climate and health effects of dust from the exposed lake bed of the Great Salt Lake.  This is a project born from intellectual curiosity and personal drive and in it's early stages was largely unfunded.  Kevin rose a fat bike across the exposed lake bed, collecting samples and illustrating the toxic composition of dust from the lake bed.  This has helped to identify a critical health issue and motivate efforts to save the Great Salt Lake.   You can read more about the Kevin's efforts in this 2019 article from the Salt Lake Tribune .   I was deeply honored to receive a Distinguished Teaching Award and would like to thank everyone who has read this blog, attended one of...

Last Week, the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah released a detailed fact sheet highlighting the economic contributions of Utah's ski industry.  If it seems like the Utah ski industry has changed dramatically in recent years, this study largely confirms it.  A few interesting tidbits.   Skier days have really taken off since 2020/21 with each year since setting a new record, reaching 7.1 million in 2022/23.  And that 7.1 million was reached with Little Cottonwood being closed by avalanche hazard for the latter part of the season.  If it seems like there are more people at the resorts than there used to be that's because there are.   Where did all these skiers come from?  During the 2022/23 season, 44% were from Utah.  The rest came from all over the place.  Want to blame California?  They are the biggest non-Utah source, although they represent only 8% of skiers.  Colorado is good for 2%.  I th...

The statewide snowpack water equivalent, based on an average of all stations in Utah, peaked on April 1-2 at 18.8 inches and after fluctuating just below that value for about 10 days, has been steadily declining and now sits at 15 inches.  Source: NRCS The peak of 18.8 inches was 117.5% of the median peak of 16 inches, so it's been a decent snow year statewide. The situation though varies depending on region and elevation.  We'll focus here on the Wasatch Range.  The lowest elevation SNOTEL site in the Wasatch is Ben Lomond Trail in the North Ogden Valley, which is at 5971 ft.  The snowpack at Ben Lomond Trail also peaked on April 1–2.  This is a snowy location, so the peak snowpack water equivalent was 28.4", more than 10" higher than the state average, despite the low elevation.  Source: NRCS After April 8, the snowmelt at this site began in earnest and it has since shed a bit more than 10" of water, or a bit over a third of the snowpack.   Abov...

In the previous post, Climate Change Case Study: Austria , we examined recent trends in snow measures and potential impacts of future warming on skiing in the eastern Alps.  Declines in snow and snowcover are evident in the recent past and expected to continue in the next few decades in low- and mid-elevation areas.  High-elevation resorts in Tyrol, where resorts more commonly extend above 2000 meters, are the most "climate resilient" but will still feel the effects of climate change.  Ski area viability declines with ongoing greenhouse gas emissions and future warming.  One estimate suggest that with 2°C of warming relative to 1961–1990, only 64% of Austrian ski areas will be snow reliable.  With 4°C of warming, this number drops to 16%.   In this post we look at the fate of glaciers in the Alps.  Glaciers are large masses of land-based, perennial ice, and they exist at upper-elevations throughout the Alps.  The map below shows the Alpine gl...

It was a great ski season here in northern Utah, but the situation at low elevations in the Alps this year was dismal.  The photo below was taken on March 3rd at Brixen im Thale, part of the SkiWelt Wilderkaiser – Brixental megaresort in the eastern Tyrol of Austria.  Despite it being early March, the natural snowpack was non-existent and artificial snow was scant.   This is a low elevation area.  The photo is taken at 800 meters and much of the skiing in this region is is below 2000 meters.  At these elevations, snow is especially vulnerable to temperature, and this winter was remarkably warm in the Austrian Alps.  Geosphere Austria, the state meteorological and geophysical science service, reported that February was the warmest on record , with a mean temperature in mountainous areas an incredible 5.9°C (10.6°F) above the 1961–1990 average. The impacts can be seen above.  This was followed by a March that rated as the warmest in history in the A...

I'm calling it. Spring is here.  Powder skiing chances now will be increasing intermittent.  The final powder weekend was a good one.  It was ideal for April powder skiing with a goldilocks dump that covered much of the buried crusts, a remarkably cold airmass, and enough cloud cover to limit the caustic effects of the now high-angle sun.   Forecasts for this week are not hopeful if you are hoping powder.  Below is the 7-day GFS.  Mt. Baldy (11,000 ft) tempeatures rising the next few days into the 30s.  Near 50 at Alta Collins.  Maybe a shower or two, but not enough to enable real powder skiing.   At some point a cold trough will push in here and we'll see snow again. This is after all spring in Utah.  You might even get another deep powder day or two in.  It happens.  But for all intents and purposes, it's over.  Hope you enjoyed it.  All in all a pretty good season.  Enjoy the corn.