textproduct: Salt Lake City

KEY MESSAGES, Issued 1015 PM MDT Wed Sep 9 2026

- There is a ~50% chance the western valleys will see wind gusts in excess of 45 mph for 3 or more hours Saturday evening into late Saturday night ahead of a strong cold front.

DISCUSSION, Issued 1015 PM MDT Wed Sep 9 2026

With high pressure centered over the Desert Southwest, dry conditions will continue across the region through Thursday. An upper level trough will approach the Pacific Northwest later Thursday into early Friday. A shortwave trough ejecting ahead of this feature colocated with a jet max will support isolated convection across northern Utah Friday afternoon into Friday evening.

Meanwhile, modest moisture advection will shift mid-level moisture into southern and eastern Utah Friday afternoon into Saturday evening. A strong cold front associated with a strong Pacific trough will shift into northwestern Utah by early Sunday morning and progress through the state through the Sunday. This represents a slower progression than the ensemble members from 24 hours earlier.

This means the threat of wind gusts in excess of 45 mph+ may shift later, with the greater than 50% probability of 45 mph+ closer to 6 PM Saturday to 6 AM Sunday across northern and western Utah. Given this is still a considerable amount of time away and the chance of warning level winds is less than 15%, no headlines are needed at this time.

A substantial cooldown will occur between Saturday and Sunday, with temperatures around 10-20 degrees cooler Sunday afternoon.

AVIATION, Issued 1033 PM MDT Wed Sep 9 2026

KSLC...VFR conditions will prevail over the KSLC terminal with little to no operational concerns. South winds prevail through the night before returning to a northerly flow around 19Z Thursday.

REST OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING...VFR conditions will prevail across all terminals through the valid TAF period. Diurnally driven flows will persist through the next 24 hours.

FIRE WEATHER

Generally benign weather persists much of Thursday as the area remains placed in a dry and stable deep westerly flow. A system will graze by north of Utah roughly Thursday evening into Friday morning, bringing widely isolated shower chances along with increased cloud cover and moisture. For the southern half of Utah, isolated redevelopment of convection will be possible Friday afternoon.

Saturday will see a more potent system deepen through the Pacific Northwest and towards Utah. Ahead of this system, deep southwesterly flow will increase. This will bring widespread wind gusts around 20 to 35 mph, with the higher gusts over portions of Utah's West Desert region. Models continue to then support this system slipping by the region, pushing a cold front southward through Utah most likely some time Sunday, though of note some models have slowed more in the Sunday night to early Monday time range. Models have however maintained consensus in this frontal passage being overwhelmingly dry, with the best low end chances of precipitation noted across portions of southern to eastern Utah.

SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

UT...None. WY...Red Flag Warning until 9 PM MDT this evening for WYZ277.