I believe the data from our weather stations in the mountains is still coming in, but I was happy to see that Utah's worst snow season at this point in the year became slightly better. It's all about finding those silver linings.
Looking at the forecast for the upcoming weekend and beyond is a much happier topic. The weather is expected to quiet down as this last system exits the region. Some low lying clouds on Friday and Saturday may hang on near the mountains as low level moisture remains in place, temperatures should remain quite warm as well.
What I'm more excited to talk about is next week. We are expecting a pretty substantial moisture delivery — and a cold one at that — Monday night into mid next week. Model confidence in an event happening next week is fairly high, considering we are this far out.
The key with this storm will be if it can be cold enough for snow, especially with the mid elevations, which is looking good on that front. Moisture availability is another question, and it looks like the low pressure system will be drawing up remnants of an atmospheric river south of the Sierra Nevadas, which is a track that we like to see for Utah.
One concern I have is that the best dynamics favorable for the best precipitation could slip too far south of us. But overall, I'm feeling good about this one. Let's keep crossing our fingers and hope everything lines up for a good helping of snow. We very much need it.
To continue the good news, stormy activity looks to continue into the second half of next week as well. Temperatures will remain mild heading into the holiday weekend, sitting in the low to mid 50s for northern Utah and 60s for the southern portion of the state.