Powder Update -12-18 inches fell in Utah in 7 hours!

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On Thursday intense and convective snow showers crushed Utah with only 4-8 inches in the original forecast. 3 inches had fallen Wednesday morning by 9 AM and up to 17 inches are being recorded on telemetry in the Park City area (Summit Park on the top of Parleys had 17 inches by 5 PM Wednesday). Snowbird and Alta recorded 13 inches by 3 PM! East winds (Not common) and some convective snow bands set up directly overhead roughly from I-80 to the Cottonwoods bringing 3-5 inch per hour snowfall rates! Another 4 inches has fallen in the Cottonwoods since 5 PM for Thursday morning. In all my years of forecasting, I am not sure I have ever seen such intense snowfall bands in April, especially in Park City.

Below: Snow telemetry from Park City Jupiter Telemetry jumped up to 25 inches in 4 hours. Not sure I can believe this? The snow depth went from 191 to 216. East winds don't normally perform this way but instead favor the Uinta Range.

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Bottom Line Forecast:

Another 2-4 inches is likely Thursday for the Cottonwoods. Another band will develop for Utah Thursday night into Friday (3-6 additional). Snow develops in Colorado Thursday late morning and increases into Friday morning. Amounts in Colorado have downtrended somewhat to the 5-10 inch range for Rocky Mountain National Park, Eldora, and perhaps 4-8 inches for Summit County, Loveland Pass, A-Basin, and Winter Park. Further west 3-6 inches are likely along I-70 including Aspen. Peak snowfall rates will be late Thursday into Friday morning. The models seem to favor the northern Front Range from Boulder to Fort Collins.

Snow showers continue in Colorado Friday/Saturday with a 2nd wave likely. That might bring another 2-5 inches for the Continental Divide for Saturday morning freshies. Aim to ride Colorado Friday or Saturday. Midday Friday might see the deepest 12-hour totals, however with cold air and the 2nd push of moisture for Saturday could keep things fun both days! The total 48-hour snowfall for Colorado should be decent however it will come in 2 pieces. This might favor resorts along I-70 or north. Western Colorado towards Aspen or Vail will see less (3-6).

This forecast might get updated later on Thursday.

Powderchaser Steve

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