For the second year in a row, the Park City ski community is vibrating with a specific type of holiday tension caused by looking outside and seeing … grass. After a week of record warmth and aggressive sunshine, the question on everyone’s lips is: Is winter canceled? Technically, the Tha ynes Canyon sensor sits at 55% of the median — which is, incredibly, better than last year.  The Thaynes Canyon sensor sits at 55% of the median — which is, incredibly, better than last year.  Credit: Chart courtesy of OpenSnow But don’t get too excited. That snow is hiding up above 9,000. Down at the base, we are currently experiencing a meteorological phenomenon I’ll call “Going Backward” — with snow actually melting in the lower elevations. To put it bluntly: It’s dire, folks. The Forecast: The Good, The Bad, and The Slushy The good news is that storms are coming! The bad news is that these storms are armed with their proverbial blowtorches. On Wednesday, a storm arrives, but the snow level will be hovering around 8,000 feet initially. This means Park City proper will likely experience that festive holiday precipitation known as “rain” in the morning. By late afternoon, the snow levels will fall thanks to a cold front, but our burst of snow is likely to be brief at the tail end of the storm before we clear out on Wednesday night.  Snowfall totals for Wednesday are likely to be modest, with 2 to 4 inches for the high elevations and anywhere from a dusting to a couple of inches for the lower elevations of Summit County After a break in the action Thursday and Friday, an atmospheric river will sag south into northern Utah by Saturday, with precipitation likely to continue into Sunday. While we could see decent precipitation amounts, mild temperatures will once again keep snow levels bouncing around like a caffeinated toddler between 7,500 and 8,500 feet. In fact, you can see that over the next 10 days, during our periods of precipitation (indicated by the bar chart at the bottom), we will typically have correspondingly high snow levels. Wednesday afternoon and night, believe it or not, is the only period in which snow levels are expected to be below the base elevation between now and Christmas. Yikes!  Wednesday afternoon and night is the only period in which snow levels are expected to be below the base elevation between now and Christmas. Credit: Chart courtesy of OpenSnow The Bottom Line As the charts indicate, the disparity will be high. The top of the mountain might score a foot of fresh powder, while the base gets, well, damp. This is illustrated well by our OpenSnow 3D Forecast Snowfall maps, which show decent snow up top, with very little down low. Credit: Map courtesy of OpenSnow Is this ideal? No. But before you start selling your skis for firewood, remember: We were in this same desperate boat last year and managed to salvage a somewhat normal snowpack by January. Plus, if we look deep into the “Fantasyland” portion of the forecast—where meteorologists basically just hope for the best—there are signs of actual winter returning after Christmas. Hang in there. I hope to have news next week that doesn’t involve the word “rain.” The post The Outlook: Is it time to panic? Yeah, maybe just a little appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less