Typical

I got my sleep in this afternoon and woke up in the third inning of the Giants/Dodgers game. I dunno what's gotten into me because I went straight away to multitasking. I'm probably looking for salvation from the heat and the burgeoning onset of Spring Fever...Man, it's tough to sack out when you really want to sit in the sun and watch the woodpeckers feed.

So, I checked the remote data...a degree or two lower than yesterday isn't enough to hang a hat on...still mid-60's, and last night things never got much below 40°F.

Last night the crew earned it. From the beginning of the shift, it was just awful. I was double passing everything...to get barely passable results. You couldn't blade little enough to help things either.

After a couple of hours of this, my phone rang. Jeweler was beside himself..."what am I doing wrong" he asked. "Nothing " I replied, I went on to tell him I was double passing everything at a snail's pace, getting barely satisfactory results. Jeweler was relieved...we soldiered on. The night droned on.

Something happened to the piste right around sunrise...like a light switch turning on, the snow got a little more cooperative...no real increase in speed, but the piste was laying out better.

I just looked at the high-rez temp plot, and that light switch moment aligns perfectly with the rise in temp from roughly 39°F-40°F, where it had hovered since 9PM. The temp shot almost straight up, and made a 15°F gain in a little over an hour!

Tonight is shaping up about like last night...a degree or two colder for the afternoon high, which was still in the 60's. It's too early to tell if the low has plateaued yet...just a degree or so warmer might make a difference...c'mon light switch!

The forecast promises a cool-down after Saturday's warm afternoon highs...15-25 degrees cooler, and with luck, an inch of snow. The valley highs will be down 10 degrees Saturday, so maybe our afternoon highs won't be quite so extreme...fingers crossed...