NO NEW SNOW FOR 24 HOURS (SNOW PHONE 406-518-7575)
No new snow to talk about for the last 24 hours, but Westerly winds have been working wonders, especially on our upper mountain. Smooth, windbuffed turns abound off of challenger, and yesterday dozens of people were hiking the Headwaters. A to Z's looked like they were closed at some point, likely due to concerns of windloading. Temps at mid mountain have doubled overnight, rising from the teens at mid mountain to nearly above freezing. Northwest winds have been gusting over 50mph at the summit, where temps have climbed from the single digits to the mid 20's. Up high, the wind buff is still going to be soft, but may start getting a little grabbier which could work in our favor, gluing itself into the nooks and crannies of the mountain.
WIND AND TEMPS: Today's temps are expected to range between 23°F at the summit, and 37°F at the base, with mid mountain temps hovering around 32°F. Winds in the springtime once again are proving difficult to forecast, as several weather services are calling for SW winds, yet we've been registering NW winds at the summit all night long. Regardless of which direction they come from, they're expected around 50mph up there, and about 25mph at mid mountain, under cloudy skies with some snow showers expected. If NW winds prevail, we can hope for colder, lighter snow, if SW winds, then tackier spring time snow and drifts.
After today we have temps climbing over 40°F for three days in a row,
with some calls for rain. I still think it's far too early to rain on the upper mountain, but we could see things get wet down low later this week. The cold temps we have experienced through this past weekend have done wonderful things for our snow, preserving our base and allowing prime conditions for the wind to work it's magic. Hard to believe how fast this season has flown by so far. Make sure you're doing what you can to make the most of these epic conditions. Just driving around yesterday I couldn't believe how big some of these wind snow banks are.
Our SNOTEL for example at this time last year was measuring only 37" of base depth, with only 12" of Snow Water Equivalent, this year we have 62" of base, with 20" of SWE. A truly remarkable difference from year to year, and we can still pray for some epic springtime storms to really make things legendary out there.
As always, remember to stay safe, and have fun out there.
