I've been traveling for the past 17 days or so, but I'm back in Utah and back to the grind looking for changes in the weather pattern as we head toward the winter season.  Generally speaking, things have been quiet while I've been away -- at least precipitation wise.  Unfortunately, we've seen a continuation of warm and dry weather.  Coupled with consistent breezy conditions, the fire danger has been extreme and unfortunately we've had several devastating fires here in Utah.  Wish I could say we had some rain on the way, but things continue to look dry for at least the next week.  Hopefully, the winds at least will subside.  

As for temperatures so far this month, SLC has had only one day with a daily maximum temperature below normal and that was on September 1st.  Since then, we've had 15 consecutive days of at or above normal temps.  

While we haven't been setting records, we have been consistently above normal.  Seems to be the story of the summer and now is extending into fall.  Luckily, temps should drop about 5-10 degrees later this week down to near normal. 

Last year, Alta picked up 1.3" of liquid on September 15, then saw its first snowfall on September 19. By the end of September, Alta picked up 19" of snow.  So, that goes to show that any day now we can start seeing mountain snowfall.  Of course, last year we then went on to see very little snowfall in October and November.  I will happily trade beneficial snow in late October and November for useless snow in September and early October. 

As mentioned above, we remain dry for the next week at least.  Both the GFS and Euro are flirting with a trough affecting the Northern Rockies middle of next week (September 25-27).  Obviously, this is more than a week away, so details are sketchy, but it does look like a chance for snowfall to our north - possibly even significant snowfall.  The Euro even brings the snowfall far enough south that far northern Utah mountain could pick up a dusting: 

At the very least, this should bring us our coolest temps of the year.  Out in fantasy land, the GFS brings in another trough at the end of the month that could also bring us snowfall.  At this point, we'll just have to wait and see if this comes to fruition.  I'll keep an eye on things for you.  

Evan | OpenSnow