Spring micro-climate

Where our home is located, severe winter weather really last from November through February; while March and April are often the wettest months of the whole year and snow and sleet can linger through a good part of May. Starting in March, substantial snowfalls tend to be concentrated on the highest elevations and at 6,750 feet where we live, the snow that falls around our house doesn’t fall in substantial quantities and doesn’t last nearly as long. That is good news as far as snow removal is concerned. Roads as well as driveway are also no longer icy as they now store the spring heat and new snow has a much harder time sticking to them. What is striking though is that in March and April, clouds mostly stick to the largest mountains formations and even though we are only 2 or 3 miles away from Jupiter Peak, which at 10,000 feet is the highest point in Park City, that summit and the surrounding ranges are always shrouded in clouds while around our home all remains clear. As an example, yesterday was snowy without any accumulation down in Park City, while there was almost one foot of fresh snow up at Jupiter Peak. A close observation also shows that in early spring, clouds only stay in areas forested by pine trees. Conifers don’t grow naturally where our home is located, this is already “high-desert” with grass and sagebrush and that also says a lot about the kind of precipitations we receive the rest of the year...