Strong winds move up north with showers down south
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Happy Thursday, Utah! Temperatures are running a few degrees below average with daytime highs in the 40s and 50s for most. Yesterday’s system exited to the south, but it’s not quite done with us yet. Thanks to the counterclockwise rotation of this system, as it moves southward, we will see wind switch to an easterly flow for northern Utah. This easterly flow will bring powerful winds and a second helping of snow to the Uinta Mountains before continuing southward to the central and southern mountains by tomorrow.
Easterly flow will also be responsible for very strong downslope winds in northern Utah through Friday. High Wind Warnings are in place for Cache Valley and the northern Wasatch Front down to Salt Lake County until noon Friday. Sustained winds of 20-40 mph are expected while gusts have the potential to exceed 60 mph. Some places have the potential to see gusts as high as 85 mph, especially between Kaysville and Bountiful and near canyon mouths. Wind advisories are also in place across northern Utah where gusty winds will be present, but not as potent. For places outside of these alerts, gusts will still likely exceed 30 mph.
With the moisture moving in an easterly direction, it will likely be gobbled up by the mountains before reaching valleys in northern Utah. Winter Storm Warnings and Winter Weather Advisories are in effect for most mountains across the state outside of the Wasatch. The Uintas and SW Wyoming are in alerts until 6 p.m. this evening.
The remainder of the Winter Storm Warnings and advisories are in effect from Thursday through noon Saturday. Bryce Canyon Country and Vicinity could see 6-10 inches and Capitol Reef 4-12 inches between 6 a.m. Thursday and Saturday at noon while gusts could climb to 60 mph at times. The Central and Southern Mountains could see an additional 1-2 ft. is possible while the Boulder Mountain area could see a whopping 30-40 inches, and wind gusts up to 45 mph are possible. The La Sal and Abajo mountains will have the warning go into effect at noon Thursday and last through 6 a.m. Saturday, 10-20 inches are in the cards with winds gusting up to 45 mph.
South Central Utah won’t be seeing quite as much snow but are still in a Winter Storm Watch from Thursday morning to Saturday morning where 2-4 inches of snow could fall. Snow will primarily stay above 3,500-5,000 feet. Outside of alerts, central and southern valleys may not see any snow or up to 3″. In places like St. George, we see rain.
As we move into the weekend, we’ll start to see the weather calm down a little bit, but it won’t be completely calm. It will still be breezy in northern Utah while isolated showers remain possible down south. Temperatures will continue to warm and through the weekend we’ll be above seasonal norms. We could stay slightly unsettled into early next week with a spring feeling as highs are likely to climb into the 60s along the Wasatch Front and low 70s down in St. George!
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