Snowbird and Alta, Utah | First Winter Weather Advisory Of The Year

Here in Northern Utah we had a seemingly short fall.  After the hottest summer on record in Salt Lake City several weeks ago things changed over night to very fall-esque weather.  However fall as we think of it did not last long.  The Wasatch has been receiving a winter storm each week for now the 4th week running.  Nothing has been substantial with the largest storm dropping about a foot in high NW Flow favored areas.

This current system which is impacting the Central Wasatch has snow levels of about 9K at the moment but is expected to lower to below 6K through the evening hours putting snow on the benches above Salt Lake City.  The current forecast as of 2:21 PM MDT calls for 7-14 inches by Monday night which is slightly down from the last 9 AM update which totaled 8-18 inches.  Anything is possible with this system though.  The storm its self is small with not much moisture associated but it is a slow moving system which will aid totals and has the possibility of Lake Effect snowfall SE of the lake which could impact the Cottonwood Canyons.

If this system pans out this could be a great start to the resort bases or a huge hindrance when the storms do start coming in as the snow may sit on the ground and rot to a deep layer of weak faceted snow.  As of now Alta is planning to start making snow on October 25th and Snowbird Plans to begin on November 1st.  However if weather cooperates we could maybe see Snowbird begin limited production sooner.