paints a postcard picture today, so here it is for all to enjoy. They really should consider making movies out here.
Several dreary and misty days...
in the low country has bolstered the snowpack in the high country, now standing at 76% of the median snow water equivalent, following very closely the trajectory of the 2022 water year.
This year’s snowpack (black line) compared with 2022 (green line).
Soft light over Porcupine Rim...
at sunset with high wind and freeze warnings in the forecast.
Nearly back to normal...
snow water content in the high country as a result of several late-winter storms this month. But the valleys remain exceptionally dry, with my gauge recording only 0.15 inches (~4 mm) of precipitation from yesterday’s storm.
Lingering clouds obscure the higher La Sal Mountains where snow is almost certainly still falling this morning.
Current SNOTEL data showing 92% median snow water equivalent in the snowpack with 18 days to go to the median peak.
A supremely superb late-winter day...
in Castle Valley National Park. The singletrack beckons.
The orographic effect of the La Sal Mountains...
is ripping apart the dawn skies as the tail end of a small winter storm passes through the region.
Still on track to be a dry winter...
despite the recent snow and rainstorms that passed through the region.
A view of the high country with its fresh mantle of snow.
We’re only half-way to an “average” snowpack but there are still 46 days until the typical peak.
High altitude mare's tails...
herald a big change in the weather pattern for southern Utah the week ahead.
Cirrus uncinus clouds above Castleton Tower.
The snowpack has statistically diminished...
to only about 70% of median snow water content in the La Sal Mountains as this very dry winter season continues.
Wind-swept rocky surfaces and large snow cornices reveal a high country that hasn’t seen significant snowfall since around Thanksgiving.
A milky ribbon of water ice...
covers Castle Creek thanks to the frigid nighttime temperatures, but long crystal-lined canyons in the milky ice open like skylights and reveal the water flowing beneath.
This winter season continues to be cold and very dry. The snowpack in the highcountry is now 80% of the historical median snow water content, but there are still 68 days until the median peak snowpack.
The calendar year begins...
with a normal snowpack in the La Sal Mountains. But it’s been dry in the surrounding canyon country.
A window opens in the passing storm...
but very little precipitation fell in the valley nor in the high country, a bit of a disappointment. The snow water equivalent at the Lasal Mountain SNOTEL is indicated at 113% of the median.
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.
Icy crystals of hoarfrost...
develop and are sustained in deeply shaded areas, seen here nucleating on blades of grass. It’s a frigid microscopic crystalline wonderland.
Click on image to enlarginate.
An outstanding early start...
to the water year in the high country thanks to a pre-Thanksgiving winter storm that dropped 1.5 inches (38 mm) of rain on Castle Valley yesterday.
SNOTEL time series showing this year’s snowpack (black line). Green line represents the median and the orange line is the previous water year for comparison.
Link to NRCS Snotel network.
Weekend rains translate to mountain snows...
in the La Sal Mountains, with snow level occurring at about 7,200 feet (~2,200 meters). It’s too early for the SNOTEL network to yield any seasonal information on snow depth and water content in the high country.
The first seasonal snow dusts the high country...
and signals a good start to the water year. I recorded a half-inch (12 mm) of liquid sunshine in my rain gauge yesterday.
The snowy summit of Mt. Waas is 12,306 feet (3,751 meters) in elevation and about 12 miles (19 kilometers) distant. Round Mountain in foreground.
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.)
Setting as hard as adobe brick...
during the last several days, muddy deposits left behind on the landscape by the recent flash floods have become hard-baked by high temperatures. Desiccation structures - mudcracks - have developed on the fine-grained sediments.
