textproduct: Salt Lake City

KEY MESSAGES

- Valley rain and mountain snow showers will continue through the day today, gradually diminishing through the evening hours.

- Freezing temperatures will return for many Utah valleys Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.

- A warming trend will follow for the latter half of the week into the upcoming weekend.

DISCUSSION

Valley rain and mountain snow showers are ongoing this morning across primarily northern Utah, located just behind a weak boundary associated with an approaching shortwave trough. This area of showers, likely becoming a bit stronger with daytime heating, will likely stall this afternoon along a west-east oriented line roughly north of Richfield and south of Salt Lake County before the aforementioned shortwave ejects across the state this evening, pushing the line southward. Isolated thunderstorms are possible this afternoon, with brief periods of moderate-heavy precipitation rates given lingering low- to mid-level moisture.

Behind the boundary, conditions will dry out and skies will begin to clear up with showers largely ending by midnight, or even sooner. Mid- to high-level clouds will clear, resulting in cooler temperatures overnight with many valleys dipping below freezing. As such, Freeze Watches have been upgraded to Freeze Warnings. One forecast problem is the extent of lingering low clouds near higher terrain overnight, which could limit the degree of cooling, particularly central valleys like the Sanpete and Sevier Valleys. Tomorrow, although temperatures will begin to increase across the region, many valleys are expected to reach freezing once again by early Wednesday morning, with Freeze Warnings extended accordingly.

Conditions will largely be quieter for the rest of the week, though modestly cyclonic flow and daytime heating may result in isolated afternoon mountain showers across northern Utah each day. On Thursday, areal coverage of these showers may expand into southern Utah as a shortwave trough swings through the region, though moisture will still be pretty limited overall.

Temperatures will steadily increase through Sunday, particularly as high pressure builds this weekend. Forecast highs will rise from 5-15 degrees below normal today to 5-10 degrees above normal by Sunday. However, model guidance favors more active weather returning as early as Monday with overall consensus pointing towards lowering 500-mb heights next week.

REST OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING

An area of showers will persist from roughly south of a line from Wendover to Evanston and north of a line from Kings Canyon to Price. MVFR to occasional IFR cigs will continue under this band of showers through around 02-04Z. Conditions will improve across the region to VFR with occasional showers across central and southern Utah through 09-12Z.

SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

UT...Freeze Warning from midnight tonight to 9 AM MDT Tuesday for UTZ103-114>116-118>120-122.

Freeze Warning from midnight Tuesday night to 9 AM MDT Wednesday for UTZ114>116-118-119-122.

WY...None.