Wednesday, May 23, 2018

A Wee Bit of Snow Left

Pretty disturbing late May snowpack numbers from around the state as a super majority of SNOTEL stations are now reporting zero or near zero snowpack water equivalents.

Source: NRCS
In the central Wasatch, only Snowbird is reporting what I'll call "above the noise" snowpack water equivalent values with 6.2 inches.  The freefall over the past month is quite obvious if you follow the blue trace below.  

Source: NRCS
That gives us about a "weekish" of snow cover duration left at that site.

In the western Uintas, the Trial Lake SNOTEL has maybe a day or two left with 1.0" of water equivalent on the pillow.

Source: NRCS
Bald Mountain Pass, which is a bit higher, looks like it still has about a footish of snow on the ground.  With effort, there's probably some skiing to be had up there, but this is a pretty meager snowpack for the approaching Memorial Day weekend.  


Whose got the most? The Doc Daniel site in the Bear River Range is the statewide leader at present with about 15 inches. 

Source: NRCS
For what it's worth, the Alta web cams suggest we should have reasonable top-to-bottom ski touring this weekend, despite the skimpy Snowbird SNOTEL numbers.  

Source: Alta
The snow depth at Alta-Collins this afternoon sits at 55".  

1 comment:

  1. Hi Doc,

    Any chance you can give me a prediction for snow coverage on Ibahpah Peak? It's my last Utah Ultra to climb and the weather looks perfect for hanging out in the west desert but I don't want to drive all the way out there if it's going to be postholing!

    Bob

    ReplyDelete