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.
High desert fluvial geomorphology...
on display in the canyons, washes and arroyos in mid- to upper-Castle Valley as a result of an intense thunderstorm two days ago. Erosion and sedimentation has occurred across a widespread area - both in and out of channels - but no structural damage was observed anywhere.
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.
Magnificent mammatus clouds...
hang from the cloud base above Castleton Tower and Adobe Mesa as a squall line moves through Castle Valley this late afternoon.
There must be gold in Round Mountain...
if this evening’s rainbow is a guide.
April showers...
bring out rainbows.
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.
The most dramatic sunsets...
in Castle Valley occur when stormy skies begin to clear around sundown, as clouds rip apart and permit the last low-angle rays of the Sun to flare on the eastern skyline. This evening is such an evening.
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.
Rain and snow squalls...
accompanied by unseasonably warm temperatures makes it feel like spring in the high desert.
Late afternoon at Round Mountain.
Absolutely gorgeous mid-winter days...
in southeast Utah stand in stark contrast to the seasonal forecast in The Old Farmer’s Almanac calling for a snowy and cold winter in the intermountain West. The high country snowpack is tracking the historic median, though, so I’m not complaining.
Click on image to enlarginate.
Winter atmospherics...
cloak the high desert landscape this afternoon.
The late afternoon emergence of Adobe Mesa.
Wintry weather has finally arrived...
but only several inches of snow has fallen in Castle Valley, though the high country has been elevated to 90% of median snow water content for this time of year. It hasn’t stopped me from patrolling the trails and all the tire tracks be mine.
The last rays of the day...
paint a dramatic sunset after a winter storm dropped a half-inch of rain on Castle Valley today. A lovely Christmas Eve eve.
(Click on image to enlarge.)
UPDATE: This storm elevates the snow water content in the La Sal Mountains to 88% of the historic median.
First tracks on freshly fallen flurries...
in the backyard mountain bike park below Adobe Mesa, after a brief overnight snow squall. Wonderful.
