textproduct: Salt Lake City

KEY MESSAGES

- Gusty winds will continue across southwest Wyoming and the higher terrain of northeast Utah today, along with a few morning showers which could bring very light and spotty rain and very high elevation snow.

- High pressure will be in place Thursday through the weekend, with dry conditions and temperatures around 10-15F warmer than normal. Valley inversions will build as high pressure is in place.

DISCUSSION

Utah remains under a northwesterly flow aloft this morning downstream of a ridge over the eastern Pacific. A few weak returns have been noted on radar imagery over portions of northern Utah, suggesting spotty light precipitation in place. This will continue through the morning hours before tapering off. Precipitation amounts will remain very minor, as Utah is well removed from the core of the atmospheric river streaming by to the north. Stratus and patchy high clouds in place over northern Utah this morning have helped maintain warm overnight temperatures. The clouds will gradually clear through the day which should allow for increasing sunshine through the afternoon. The warm start to the day coupled with clearing skies this afternoon should allow for daytime maxes 12-20 degrees above climo areawide today. SLC could approach 60F, although this is far from the record of 66F for the day. The NBM only has a 7% chance of SLC reaching 60F today, but it has been running too cold the past few days. Otherwise, gusty winds are expected to continue across southwest Wyoming and far northeast Utah, but should be a bit weaker compared to yesterday and will continue to gradually trend downward into tomorrow.

Quiet weather can be expected tomorrow through the weekend as the upstream ridge amplifies and gradually shifts inland. With decreasing winds, valley inversions will strengthen, especially towards the end of the week and into the weekend. Temperatures in most inversion-prone valleys will likely peak today, possibly tomorrow in some areas, before trending a bit cooler due to the strengthening inversions.

Models start to break down the ridge by the early part of next week which could open the door, at some point, for some storms to make it into Utah. This all begins when a weakening low undercutting the ridge ejects across Utah Sunday night into Monday morning. This initial wave will bring very little or no change in sensible weather. However, with the flow now trending a bit more zonal, a series of weak ripples will potentially bring some unsettled weather to northern Utah beginning on Tuesday. At this time, however, none of these look to bring significant precipitation, or even more seasonable temperatures, to the area.

REST OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING

VFR conditions will persist through the period for the entire airspace. Dry conditions with decreasing mid level clouds will continue with light and variable winds across most of the area outside of gusty winds in the higher terrain of the far northeastern airspace.

SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

UT...None. WY...None.