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here.Currently: Skies are scattered and temperatures plummeted overnight, ranging through the single digits and low teens F. Winds are westerly and have decreased slightly overnight: at mid-elevations winds are averaging in the teens with gusts in the 20's mph while upper-elevation winds are gusting near 30 mph.
Today: Mostly sunny with temperatures in the teens F. The westerly winds will remain about the same throughout the day, averaging in the teens with gusts in the '20s at the mid-elevations and gusts in the 30's mph at upper elevations.
This Week: A series of weak weather systems will pass through this coming week bringing colder temperatures. Although each system looks depleted of any moisture, we may get an inch or two of snow by Wednesday.
For those practicing Dryuary, I suspect this isn't what you had in mind. Continued storminess early this month exaggerated January snow/water totals with the Ben Lomond weather station reporting 2.9" of water since January 1, but it essentially hasn't snowed since January 8 with most regions reporting fewer than 12" of snow over the past 3+ weeks. The cold and clear weather has weakened the snow surface with the top several inches of snow now very weak and faceted. Drew's video below illustrates the current weak snow surface in the Salt Lake mountains, with similar conditions in the Ogden-area mountains.
What does weak snow at the surface mean? For now, this "recycled powder" continues to provide decent travel and riding conditions in sun and wind-sheltered terrain. But once storms do return (and they will), we will possibly enter a period of dangerous avalanche conditions.
