Utah Daily Snow

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By Evan Thayer, Forecaster Posted 3 years ago August 31, 2020

Cool start to Fall

Summary

A cool fall-like trough will bring the first chill, and perhaps the first flakes of the season to northern Utah tonight and tomorrow. High pressure will re-establish itself late this week into Labor Day weekend with above-average temps returning.

Short Term Forecast

Our first cool front and fall-like trough is impacting the area today and tomorrow (Monday and Tuesday). Appropriately, tomorrow is the first day of meteorological autumn! This is welcome news considering August has been the hottest August on record for much of Utah, including the SLC area. 

Visual representation of August in Utah...

Visual representation of August in Utah

But temperatures will actually be dropping below normal for the first time in a month and a half! Here are the forecasted temperature anomalies tonight and tomorrow: 

Temperatures are already chillier this morning. My house recorded its lowest temperature since June this morning. Temps tonight will fall to even chillier readings with 20s and 30s possible in colder mountain valleys. Peter Sinks could drop into the teens! 

As for precipitation, this trough is fairly limited. We may see some showers move into northern Utah tonight. I don't expect much, but a few showers are certainly possible. Temperatures will even be cold enough for SNOW possible in the highest elevations of the Wasatch and Uintas! Don't be shocked if we see a dusting on some peaks tomorrow morning! 

We will clear out on Tuesday with gradual warming for Wednesday. The furnace will be turning back on as high pressure re-establishes itself going into the weekend. You can see by Saturday/Sunday, we are already back to well-above normal temperatures: 

Enjoy these cool temps while they last. The good news is that extra hot temps are unlikely in September, so I think we are probably done with triple digit heat for the year. 

Extended Forecast

The general theme over the next few weeks will be an amplified pattern with a big ridge along the west coast and troughs dropping into the central US. Utah is somewhere in between these two features, but we are on the wrong side of the continental divide. That means we are more likely to be warm and dry. However, it's not inconceivable that one of the troughs could drop farther west than currently progged in the long-range models. Overall, it's a fairly typical fall pattern and we are seeing signs of the seasons changing. It won't be too long before we are seeing regular dustings of snow in the mountains. 

Evan | OpenSnow

About Our Forecaster

Evan Thayer

Forecaster

To Evan, 'The Greatest Snow on Earth' is more than just a motto - it’s a way of life. In 2010, he started Wasatch Snow Forecast as a way to share the best powder days with his fellow snow-lovers. Evan brings the same quality forecasts and weather discussions to OpenSnow and hopes you enjoy skiing/riding Utah as much as he does.

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