Ride Utah Blog

Brian McInerney with the National Weather Service has produced another slide presentation about the approaching storm. You can view it here.

Right now there is a little bit of snow falling on Utah’s mountains, we’re expecting to see a much more powerful system move through the area on Saturday and Saturday night. Temperatures are going to drop with a high 22 and a low of 12 degrees on Saturday.  This storm seems like it might be ripe for some lake effect action. Everyone do your snow dance and pray for some big numbers.

Tonight: Snow likely, mainly before 5am. Cloudy, with a low
around 20. Northwest wind between 5 and 8 mph. Chance of precipitation
is 70%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.

Friday: A 40 percent chance of snow, mainly before 5pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 30. West northwest wind between 3 and 6 mph.

Friday Night: Snow, mainly after 5am. Low around 19. Calm wind becoming southeast between 4 and 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.

Saturday: Snow showers. High near 22. East southeast wind 6 to 16 mph becoming northwest. Chance of precipitation is 80%.

Saturday Night: A 50 percent chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 12.

Sunday: A 20 percent chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 32.

Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 18.

Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 40.

The 2008-09 Season was fantastic in Utah with over 600 inches of the Greatest Snow on Earth burying the state. Here at Ski Utah and Ride Utah we got more than our fair share of powder days. It’s already snowing here in Utah and we’re gearing up for another fantastic season. Subscribe to our channel to stay up to date on the latest storms, powder days, and good times. See you on the slopes!

Thanks to Wasatch Powderbird Guides, All of Utah’s 13 Ski and Snowboard Resorts, Burton, Rossignol, Eider, Dakine, Pictureline, and more. Music by Femi Kuti, The Black Keys, and The Sea and Cake.

Today was the first day where I felt like you could let it rip a little bit without worrying what lurks beneath.  Here’s a quick video from another great day at Solitude.

Just got down from the mountains and it was DEEP up there.  Great turns inside the resort boundaries.  Video coming soon.  The point of this post is to share the latest UAC video forecast.  See for yourself just how hairy the Wasatch backcountry is right now.

We’re basically need to just wait for all these instabilities to settle out before punching it in steeper terrain.  With even more snow on the way it’s going to be a long while before the backcountry is stable.

We’ll see off and on snow throughout the day. West to northwest winds will blow 15-20mph then back to the southwest in the late afternoon. Temps will be 5-10 degrees F. The next blockbuster arrives tomorrow into Christmas Day. Up to and over 2′ of snow is expected, followed by another storm on the 28th.

It is currently nuking in the Wasatch right now.  We’re getting hammered by a major storm and more are stacked up behind it.  The UAC has issued and Avalanche Warning and you can pretty much guarantee that any slope with a decent pitch is going to be sliding.  Don’t believe me, check out the most recent UAC video forecast.

Becareful out there.  Tomorrow I’ll be wearing my beacon in-bounds.  Here’s the weather report for the next couple of days:

This Afternoon: Snow. High near 21. Breezy, with a southwest wind around 26 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 7 to 11 inches possible.

Tonight: Snow. Low around -1. Northwest wind between 11 and 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 6 to 10 inches possible.

Saturday: Snow showers. High near 12. West wind between 10 and 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.

Saturday Night: A 40 percent chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around -7. West wind between 9 and 11 mph.

Sunday: A 30 percent chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 23. Southwest wind around 11 mph.

Sunday Night: A 50 percent chance of snow. Cloudy and breezy, with a low around 15.

Monday: Snow. High near 24. Chance of precipitation is 80%.

Monday Night: Snow likely. Cloudy, with a low around 8.

Well it’s dumping out my window.  Thank goodness.  The forecast for this storm looks good.  Low projections for the Cottonwood Canyons call for 8″ and the high projections are calling for 18″ by tomorrow.  Pray for snow!

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/slc/snow/mtnwx/mtnForecast.php?forecast=cottonwood

Here’s what it looks like in my backyard.

Brighton is getting ready to fire up the lifts this Wednesday.  Don’t miss out on what is sure to be an epic opener.  It’s snowing in the mountains AGAIN today.  So get ready.  I’ll update when I find out what lifts they are planning top open.  Also, Solitude opens on Friday.

In other news, Pika’s of the world watch out.  Ride Utah’s Josh Scheurman wants to be your friend.

At some point this morning the Snowbird Snowcam just disappeared.  Here’s where it should be.

Snowbird Snowcam missing

Last night and this morning the snow was hammering down here in Utah.  I’ve heard up to 32 inches fell at Brighton.  Sounds like it might be time to take that rock board out and make some turns.  More snow for today and looks like another storm rolling through on Sunday – Monday.  Also, Solitude is scheduled to open in 8 days!

Check out these pictures that Dave March at the Canyons just sent over.

It is currently dumping rain in Salt Lake and nuking in the mountains.  Check out the Snow Cam at Snowbird, it’s already pushing over the one foot mark:

Snowbird Snow Cam

The current Cottonwood Canyons forecast is calling for  8 – 12 ” today and another 8 – 12″ tonight, with a 30% possiblilty of 13 – 16″ tonight.  Even more snow is on the way tomorrow.  At some point the rain in Salt Lake should be switching over to snow.  Hopefully it will be dumping on me while I’m sitting in the Hot Tub tonight.

If we end up with 3 feet or more I might have to go make my first tracks of the season.  I’ve got a little place that’s high altitude (so lots of snow), steep (for lots of speed), and grassy underneath (so I don’t have to worry about hurting my board or my butt on a rock).  Here are some shots from this undisclosed location taken on October 21st of last year.