Nowcast - A sneaky, little, moisture starved cold front slid through the Uinta zone last night delivering a couple traces of pixie dust and about .03" H2O. In other words... perhaps just enough snow to swipe off the windshield this morning. However, it's diesel gelling cold out there with temperatures registering in the low single digits °F. Winds blowing in the teens from the northwest add a bite to the air near the high peaks where windchill factors dispatch temperatures to -10 degrees °F.
Forecast - Look for a lingering flurry or two, but in general, skies clear and it'll be sunny and cold with highs barely scratching their way into the low teens. Winds blow from the northwest and ramp into the 30's by closing bell. With clear skies overhead, tonight's lows crater to near zero °F
Futurecast - Clear and slowly warming through most of the week, with a hint of another, albeit very weak storm for Thursday.
Travel Conditions -Supportable snow depths across the range step onto the scales in the flyweight category with just 1'-4' of settled snow above 9,000'. Below that, and on many solar aspects, the pack is thin or even non-existent, and access is a challenging mixed bag of patience and perseverance.
Shaun and Weston D visited the Strawberry environs Thursday and were met with wind whipped broken branches, wind transported pea size gravel, and wind pressed snow. A trifecta of humbling snow conditions, with a mini-sufferfest thrown in to keep 'em honest... like they needed that.
Yesterday, we received a most excellent observation from the Bald Mountain/Reids Peak zone showing a meaty piece of snow that avalanched a couple weeks ago during the early January storm cycle, clearly illustrating a very strong slab on top of weak snow in steep, rocky terrain.
Otherwise, it's been quiet and there's been no significant new avalanches reported from across the range in a couple weeks.
