Utahns can expect a reprieve from the winter weather this weekend after a storm dropped about a foot of snow across parts of Salt Lake City and piled deep at Alta Ski Resort.
Still, another storm currently over Oregon, Washington and Idaho is making its way to the Beehive State and will likely deliver more snow before high pressure is forecast to build in northern Utah.
It likely won’t drop the payload the last storm did, with Alta Ski Resort reporting 47 inches at one of its snow stakes. Parts of Sandy reported about a foot of snow, with almost 16 inches hitting parts of Bountiful.
The Salt Lake City International Airport saw 11.7 inches, the most since February of last year. At the National Weather Service’s Salt Lake City office, the snow fell for over 33 hours straight.
Once Thursday’s storm tapers off, northern Utah can expect drier weather with cool temperatures — there’s a chance those temperatures could dip below 15 degrees, although that’s on the extreme end of the National Weather Service’s forecast.
“There are some chances for really cold air to make it in here but it’s almost fleeting at this point,” said Sam Webber, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City.
Those cold temperatures, combined with the new snow, could result in an inversion with bad air quality this weekend, says Webber.
“Especially with all this snow that we have, it’s going to help build that inversion even stronger,” he said. “So we very well could be stuck in some cooler temperatures, at least through the weekend.”
The storm is the latest in what has been an above-average winter for Utah, especially in the northern reaches of the state — the last time the Salt Lake-area mountains had this much snow was in December 2011. The region is currently at 190% to 200% of normal snow water equivalent — essentially how much water is in the snowpack. That’s more snow than at least 91% of all other years on record.
Statewide snowpack is at 152% of normal levels, which is in the 81st percentile. Southern Utah is also experiencing an above-average winter, with parts of Washington, Kane and Garfield counties reporting nearly 200% of the median snow water equivalent.
Even with a hopeful outlook, it’s hard to say if this winter will have any impact on the decadeslong drought.
“We tend to build snowpack all the way through April. It’s only mid-December, so we still have several months before we can really start to see what impact it will bring to the drought,” said Webber.
Most of the state remains in severe to extreme drought, according to Utah’s drought monitor. Some corners of Utah, specifically parts of Washington County and the entire eastern sliver are in moderate drought, which Webber calls “minor improvements.” But it will take more than one big storm to make a significant difference.
“We’re in the midst of a multidecade drought here, so it’s going to take a couple of winters with at least well above average snowfall to get us out of this hole,” Webber said.
This week’s storm also wreaked havoc on the roads, with the Utah Highway Patrol reporting 43 crashes since 8:15 p.m. Tuesday. That’s in the wake of the agency responding to nearly 100 crashes from early Tuesday morning into the afternoon.
The snow also resulted in dangerous avalanche conditions, with most of Utah’s backcountry areas in “considerable” avalanche danger, according to the Utah Avalanche Center. Since Monday, the center reported 13 avalanches.
On Wednesday, search and rescue crews responded to a man who was partially buried in an avalanche in Neffs Canyon, in the foothills of the Central Wasatch Mountains.
The man was skiing alone, according to Unified Police Sgt. Melody Cutler, before he was buried up to his chest in an avalanche. He was found by a Unified firefighter who was recreating in the area. Cutler says the man suffered a broken femur and an arm injury.