A mild autumn season...

comes to a close in three days on the winter solstice and the extended forecast is for continued dry conditions with moderate temperatures. The Old Farmer’s Almanac is predicting that “precipitation and snowfall will be average or above average throughout the Intermountain Region. The snowiest periods will fall in mid-November, early and late January, and mid-March.” We shall see.

Another vibrant sunrise this morning above the La Sal Mountains. It’s good to be a morning person.

The snow water equivalent in the snowpack has flatlined since late-November, now just 121% of median.

Terrible air quality...

for the third day is affecting the eastern Utah region due to the Yellow Lake fire in the western Uintah Mountains. It’s going to take a change in wind direction to clear out the smoke and haze.

Link to Fire and Smoke Map 4.0 for latest air quality conditions.

Smoky conditions in Castle Valley obscure the higher La Sal Mountains and Round Mountain shortly after sunrise.

Fire and Smoke Map for Monday morning, 7 October 2024, showing location of Yellow Lake fire and associated smoke plume. Color-coded circles are air quality measurement stations.

Severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings...

have been posted again for Castle Valley, six days after an intense flash flood that inundated a wide swath of the valley with mudflows. Since then the Town has done absolutely nothing to excavate the sediment-filled ditches and restore their capacity so that they can efficiently convey storm runoff and protect private property.

Incoming thunderstorm cell from the west-northwest over Arches National Park.

Radar image of thunderstorm cell rolling over Castle Valley from Windy.

Runoff from 0.25 inches of rain in less than an hour quickly fills the ditches.

Placer Creek a short distance above its confluence with Castle Creek late this afternoon. The noise of chattering boulders impacting one another in the turbulent flow was quite loud. (Click on image to enbiggen.)

Flash flooding in Castle Valley...

occurred late this afternoon in response to an enormous storm cell that passed over the valley dropping about a half-inch of rain in less than an hour on hard-baked soils. Overland flow and sheet-flooding began immediately and ditches ran at full capacity along roadways for more than an hour. The National Weather Service did post both flash flood and severe thunderstorm warnings for the region and the last time an event this intense occurred was around 2010.

Peak runoff down the lane occurs as the storm cell moves eastward, with both roadside ditches running at full capacity. But a rainbow appeared and no personal property was damaged.

The low swale on the east side of my property took some runoff and sediment from small breaches in the berm along the roadside ditch.

UPDATE: The morning after in the mud bowl as the Town’s grader gets to work. There’s a lot of ditch maintenance that needs to happen beyond just clearing debris from the road surfaces.

Winter is hanging on...

in the high country with the La Sals completely immersed in a huge snow squall.

One week past the historic median peak, based on more than 40 years of record in the La Sal Mountains, the SNOTEL network reports there is 129% of the median snow water equivalent in the snowpack. Most excellent.

Slow and lingering late winter storms...

maintain the snowpack in the high country at near normal levels while misting the lower valley with light rains. Springtime approaches in the high desert.

A window to the snowy high country opens behind Round Mountain this afternoon.

Lasal Mountain (572) SNOTEL hydrograph: Black line indicates the current water year snow water content, closely following the median value (green line) based on 41 years of record at this station. Last year’s historic snowpack is represented by the purple line for comparison. (Graph from NCRS SNOTEL network.)

17 March 2024 update: This SNOTEL station now reports 119% of median SWE!

A snowy surprise...

blankets Castle Valley this morning. But it’s not going to last long.

As a result of this storm, snow depth in the La Sal Mountains ranges from 33 to 59 inches at the SNOTEL sites, with the snow water equivalent rising to 114% of the historic median.