A lot can change in a week. Since my last edition of The Outlook, we saw Deer Valley announce its closure, celebrate one final weekend, and then completely cease winter operations — all in a matter of a few days. Park City, similarly, closed the majority of its terrain this past weekend, with onl y a limited area on the Canyons side remaining open. Both of these mountains fell victim to a poor snowpack that simply could not hold up against unprecedented March heat. Of course, in one of life’s cruel ironies, Mother Nature is now mocking us with colder weather and snow returning this week as two separate storms move in Utah.  The first storm, which arrives Tuesday evening and continues into Wednesday morning, will be the warmer of the two storms. While we will see some cooling, snow levels are expected to remain at or above 8,000 feet for much of the event, with rain in town. This means that the snow that does fall by Wednesday morning will be quite dense and confined to the highest elevations. Accumulations of 4-8 inches are likely by Wednesday morning along the high Park City ridgeline.  The second storm will arrive early on Thursday morning, continuing through the day into Thursday night. It will usher in much colder air with snow levels crashing to even the lowest valley floors.  The total accumulation between the two systems this week is likely to be 10-18 inches in the high elevations around Park City. Credit: Chart courtesy of OpenSnow.com If you are looking for some fluffier powder, late in the day on Thursday or first thing on Friday morning will be your best bet. This second, colder storm will bring 6-12 inches of fresh snow to the high elevations.  Total accumulation between the two systems is likely to be 10-18 inches in the high elevations around Park City. If you are looking for some fluffier powder, late in the day on Thursday or first thing on Friday morning will be your best bet. This second, colder storm will bring 6-12 inches of fresh snow to the high elevations.  Credit: Map courtesy of OpenSnow.com For lift-serviced skiing, you will either have to head to the Canyons side of Park City or drive to the Cottonwood Canyons to enjoy this fresh snow.  For those of you wondering where this past month has put us in a historical context, well, we have officially reached new levels of snowpack infamy. The record-shattering March heatwave and resulting snow melt have left us with a record-low snowpack for this date.  Credit: Chart courtesy of OpenSnow.com This was not our worst season ever from a peak snowpack standpoint, as we have discussed in previous columns. However, we have been losing snowpack far earlier than we have ever seen before. Typically, this site does not fully melt out until around June 1. This year, it’s possible that all the snow will be gone by late April. This may have implications for our water resources and fire danger as we head into summer. I think it is safe to say that we should all be hoping for a wet spring to help us stave off these risks.  For up-to-date forecasts, you can subscribe to Evan’s Utah Daily Snow forecast on OpenSnow.com and the OpenSnow app.  The post The Outlook: Sure, close and then here comes some snow appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less