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 ..read more

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, show is especially vulnerable to temperature, and ..read more

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 ..read more

Alta went over the coveted 600 inch mark today thanks to ongoing showshowers that for a time in the morning featured a bonafide mid-lake band.  It has been a long time since I can remember a solitary, well-developed mid-lake bands taking aim at the Cottonwoods.  The image below is for 1329 UTC (7:29 AM MDT).  Rumors are it was a hell of a day of skiing.  Good for you if you were up and enjoying the early April freshies.   It's still stacking up as I write this at a bit after 5 PM.  Total snow depth is now up to 181", or a bit over 4.5 meters for the rest of ..read more

It's a great pattern for late March with snowfall continuing today.  Overnight, Alta-Collins picked up 6 inches (as of 7 am) and the radar looks pretty filled in as I write this at 7:20 AM. Snow today from 7 AM to 5 PM should add another 3-6" to the stake.  The HRRR says morning will be more active than afternoon, whereas the GFS keeps it going for most of the day.  Let's hope the latter verifies as that might push us above my forecast range.   Periods of snow will continue through Sunday night, with perhaps some snow showers on Monday.  I'm not sure if it will s ..read more

Ski conditions in the Wasatch backcountry continue to be excellent with cold weather and cloudy skies enabling pretty good snow preservation despite it being late March. Over the past couple of days, a lot of the snow that has fallen has been in the form of graupel, which is an opaque, white snow pellet that sometimes takes a lump, hexagonal, or conical form. Graupel often causes the snow surface to have a dippin' dots appearance.   Catch some on your sleeve and take a close look you'll find that graupel particles are aggregates of a bazillion tiny frozen cloud droplets.  ..read more

The Saturday night frontal passage seemed to provide just what the doctor ordered for transitioning from spring skiing back to proper powder skiing.  I found good skiing yesterday with just a hint of bottom feeding at mid elevations if you kept the slope angles reasonable.   Storm totals per the Alta-Collins site are now over two feet.  Elsewhere, a healthy lake band developed overnight, but raged over the western Salt Lake and Utah Valleys.   It has since broken up some but scattered lake-effect snowshowers continue this morning, albeit a bit farther west than ..read more

Pretty good delivery of the white in the upper Cottonwoods yesterday afternoon and last night. As of 6 AM, Alta-Collins is already at 13 inches with 1.32" of water.  That's a mean water content of 10%, although I suspect it's right side up.  We need some high density snow to bury the coral reef anyway.  All in all this is good news.   Radar early this morning showed a fairly active northwesterly flow pattern.     Expect periods of snow in the northwesterly flow to continue today.  The HRRR really lights it up with .66" of water and 11.1" of snow at ..read more

After about a week of splendid spring weather, winter will be returning to the Wasatch Range today with the arrival of a cold front this evening.   Although there will be some periods of high-elevation snow and low elevation rain ahead of the front, the main action will be associated with the frontal passage which will bring a few hours of steady snowfall overnight.   The cold-front is very apparent in the latest HRRR run with an abrupt drop in the wet-bulb zero height at between 7 and 8 PM.   We base the wet-bulb zero level estimate on the model forecast from t ..read more

If you look carefully, you can see a couple of clouds in the Mt. Baldy web cam from Alta Ski Area this morning. Source: Alta Ski Area Those are not enough, however, to mar the incredible run of beautiful weather we have had since the demise of the easterlies on Saturday.   Indeed, that run will continue today with clear skies and temperatures into the upper 60s in the valley.  If we can't have powder, this is a pretty good alternative.   A weak short-wave trough will come through tomorrow and bring in a few more clouds and maybe a spritz of a shower or upper-e ..read more