Storms move back into Utah to close out the workweek
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – Happy Thursday, Utah! An incoming storm brings valley rain and mountain snow to the Beehive State, so expect active skies moving into Northern and Central Utah.
The bottom line? Today brings a brief reprieve from wet weather potential, but that reprieve won’t last long.
An upper-level low pressure off the west coast will send energy and moisture along with a cold front through our neighborhood both Thursday and Friday resulting in a chance of scattered showers today and isolated showers Friday, mainly in northern Utah.
With the southwest flow temperatures will also climb to near or even slightly above seasonal norms. We’re coming off a mild overnight so expect temperatures to climb into the upper 50s along the Wasatch Front with the help of southerly winds. Winds will be particularly strong on the western side of the state, and as a result, a Wind Advisory went into effect at 9 a.m. for portions of Millard and Juab counties. Wind gusts up to 55 miles per hour can be expected in the area as well as the possibility of blowing dust.
With temperatures staying fairly consistent overnight and through our Thursday, we’ll mainly see valley rain and mountain snow with snow levels being around 7,000 ft. during the day and potentially dropping to around 5,000 ft. at night. Minor valley accumulations through Friday can’t be ruled out, but our mountains will likely receive another healthy dose of snow, potentially resulting in another foot or more, especially for mountains over 8,000 ft. Accumulating snow is expected for the Wasatch mountains, Western Uintas and Wasatch Plateau and Book Cliffs. Winter Weather Advisories have been issued for these areas and go into effect this morning and have staggering end times at 6 p.m., 9 p.m. and midnight.
When it comes to expected snow totals, Northern Utah mountains will pick up between 4 to 10 inches with locally higher amounts, the Cottonwoods can see 8-16 inches and as we head into the overnight, we could see cold air mix into some valleys and allow for light snow accumulations. Vallets could see an inch, benches could see anywhere from no snow to three inches and mountain valleys could see a trace of snow up to four inches.
Our cold front will stall in south-central Utah, and the stalled front will lift north Friday helping to generate more showers that meander northward, so isolated showers are expected to hold for central and northern Utah into Friday. Temperatures dip into the low 50s and upper 40s for most and will hold steady through Easter weekend.
Wet weather potential will spike statewide into the Easter Weekend as a stronger storm, and upper level low from the Pacific begins to move through. It might be wise to plan your Easter egg hunts indoors this year as scattered showers are anticipated for much of the state through the weekend. Given the warm temperatures, this will likely be another valley rain and mountain snow setup.
We’ll continue to fine-tune the details of the Easter Weekend forecast and keep you posted! By early next week our weather will begin to calm with warming temperatures into the middle of next week.
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