I feel like a broken record. Yet again, we are coming off a snowy past week and weekend. Since I wrote last week’s column, Park City Mountain and Deer Valley have received 37 and 33 inches of new snow respectively. Yet again, we have had several powder days on the hill with snowflakes falling in town in Park City. Spring breakers traveling to the Wasatch looking to score some of our famous powder have certainly been rewarded for their efforts.
What does all this powder mean for our snowpack? Good news, as you would expect. Thaynes Canyon snotel (snow telemetry) site is now sitting at 130% of the median for the date.
Our 111% of the median peak also means that we are guaranteed a well-above-average snowpack no matter what happens during the rest of spring. Congratulations to us! This will certainly go a long way toward filling our lakes and reservoirs as we head into the dry Utah summer.
Last week, I discussed how I am starting to feel a split in the community between those who are loving these endless storms and powder days, and those who are begging for this to be over and for us to have some consistently warm, sunny days. The divide is widening, even domestically between my wife and me. I want more storms and skiing. She wants sun and hiking.
We are going to see both sun and snow for the upcoming week, but once again, it is going to be snow and cold that dominate the weekend weather — which means the time to enjoy the sun is now.
We will see bluebird days with sunshine and warming temperatures for the middle portion of the week. This is going to last through Thursday, although we may start to see breezes pick up later that day.
The next storm should arrive by Friday afternoon or evening. This is a similar setup to what we saw this past weekend with the core of the storm dropping down the west coast before parking in southern California and spinning moisture into Utah out of the south. This type of flow often favors the Park City ridgeline and is part of the reason we did so well over the last seven days.
The storm will also have plenty of cold air so snow levels will easily be low enough for accumulating snow in the lower elevations of Summit County. The mountains should pick up moderate snowfall accumulations as well.
At this point, our forecast models indicate the potential for 6-12″ of new snow by late Saturday. Saturday should indeed be the best day for scoring powder.
I understand that for many, another weekend of cold and snow is not on the wish list right now. We do live in the mountains, however, and April is a month that almost always has one foot still in “winter.”
Beyond the weekend, there are some signs of perhaps a longer stretch of dry, warm-ish weather next week. I doubt we will be done completely with snow for at least another month, but as we get deeper into spring, climatology suggests that storms will be smaller and less frequent. Periods of tranquil weather under high pressure should become the dominant weather pattern and, in time, that will inexorably transition to summer heat. My suggestion is to try to enjoy the upcoming snow while you can. One of the secrets to happiness is finding joy in whatever type of weather Mother Nature gives us.