Utah Daily Snow

Short Term Forecast

Summer (meteorologically) is officially over! Honestly, it was one of the more comfortable summers we've experienced in recent memory in Utah. While it was hotter than our long-term average, it was far cooler than the past two years which each shattered records. Average max temp during summer (Jun-Aug) at SLC was 90.4F. 

That is a full 3.5F cooler than both 2021 and 2022. Remember, also, that last year we saw our strongest heatwave in early September too, outside of summer. The first seven days of September 2022 were above 100F with several days in the 104-107F range -- which was remarkable because prior to last year, the hottest we'd ever been in the month of September was 100F exactly. Shattered records. 

This year is going to be far different, thankfully. A fall-like trough has dropped down along the PNW coast and that is going to pull moisture into Utah out of the south today (Friday) through the Labor Day weekend. Southern Utah will bear the brunt of the action early, before the trough itself passes through and northern Utah sees heavy rain late Sunday into Sunday night. We will also see much cooler temperatures with highs in the 60s and 70s for most of the state later this weekend. A full 30 degrees cooler than the same time last year! 

Total precip through the holiday weekend is somewhat impressive:

Widespread areas of >0.5" of precip with and inch or more likely in the mountains. There may also be some snow by Monday with temperatures dropping. Snow is most likely above 11,000 ft in the Uintas, but we could see some flakes on Wasatch peaks as well. I'll be checking webcams on Monday morning to see if I see anything. Not particularly unusual to see flakes this time of year, but always fun. 

Extended Forecast

El Nino continues to strengthen. I spoke about it in my last post but you can read more in this update article on OpenSnow. 

Evan | OpenSnow