*** For your reading pleasure, check out a new blog post by UAC Forecaster, Drew Hardesty, "Utah – The Greatest...*Rain* on Earth?!?" and this from UAC Director Paige Pagnucco - Weak Snow: Today’s Surface, Tomorrow’s Avalanche Problem

Persistent fair and mild weather will continue in the mountains through the weekend. Skies will be mostly sunny again today with high temperatures at 8500 feet near 42°F. Light to moderate winds will blow from the southwest. Under a strong high-pressure system, we can expect a repeat of today's conditions tomorrow. Clouds will move in on Sunday night, and 1 to 3 inches of accumulation from a quick-hitting frontal passage is expected at upper elevations in the Logan Zone on Monday. A cool and unsettled weather pattern will continue for the remainder of the upcoming week, as a series of storm systems move through the Great Basin.

This morning, at the UAC Card Canyon weather station at 8700 feet, the temperature is 38°F, and there is 40 inches of total snow. The Tony Grove Snotel at 8400 feet reports 39°F and 52 inches of total snow. On the summit of Logan Peak (9700 feet), the wind is blowing 19 mph from the south. It's 35°F on Paris Peak at 9500 feet, and the wind is blowing lightly from the south.

Different kinds of weak layers have developed on and near the snow surface in the past couple of weeks, and these will lead to dangerous avalanche conditions when buried by inevitable future snows. After a few weeks with minimal snow accumulations, the snow is generally stable, but it's loose and sugary. The current warm temperatures are turning the soft recrystallized surface snow to mush, and natural and triggered loose wet avalanches are possible on steep slopes today. The snow cover is quite thin at lower elevations, with sunny slopes below about 7000 feet in elevation completely bare of snow.