textproduct: Salt Lake City

KEY MESSAGES

- Widespread and significant critical fire weather conditions will occur through Saturday across nearly the entire state.

- Extreme fire weather conditions will result in a Particularly Dangerous Situation through late this evening across for the central and southern mountains and southwest Utah.

- A strong cold front will cross northern and central Utah Sunday bringing temperatures near 15 to 20 degrees below normal Sunday to northern Utah and around 5 to 15 degrees below normal to southwest and south central Utah.

- Critical fire weather conditions will continue through Sunday across southeastern Utah ahead of the cold front.

DISCUSSION, Issued 1108 PM MDT Thu Jun 25 2026

A near zonal flow is in place over Utah this evening while upstream, an upper trough is moving onto the PacNW coast. Scattered convection this afternoon brought some strong storms which produced locally heavy rain, gusty winds, and large hail. However, with instability waning with the loss of daytime heating and drier air moving into the area, only some weaker showers and isolated thunderstorms remain in place at this time, and even these will continue to diminish over the next few hours.

For Friday, the airmass will continue to dry fairly significantly as southwest flow increases ahead of the upstream trough. Winds will be fairly strong, with gusts up to 50 mph. A Wind advisory is in effect for the valleys and mountain valleys of west-central through southern Utah. Additionally, combined with low humidities and dry fuels, these winds will bring critical fire weather conditions to much of Utah, with Red Flag Warnings in place. For the central and southern mountains and mountain valleys and for the southwest valleys, higher-end critical fire weather conditions, which would pose a more significant threat to life and property, have prompted an upgrade to a "Particularly Dangerous Situation" Red Flag Warning.

One more day of above normal temperatures can be expected Friday ahead of a cold front which will move into northern Utah Friday afternoon through Friday evening. This front will weaken fairly quickly as it moves into central Utah Friday night. Some showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop near and behind the cold front Friday night into Saturday morning. Temperatures on Saturday will fall to 5-10 degrees below normal for Saturday across northern Utah. Even southern Utah will see temperatures up to 5 degrees below normal.

With a trailing disturbance carving in behind the initial shortwave and reinforcing the mean trough, southwest flow will strengthen once again across the area. This will bring another round of critical fire weather conditions to the area and Red Flag Warnings continue through Saturday as a result. However, because humidities are forecast to trend higher for Saturday, the "Particularly Dangerous Situation" Red Flag Warning was not extended into Saturday, just the standard Red Flag Warnings.

A stronger cold front will then push into the area Saturday night. The front will make it to southwest Utah by Sunday afternoon, but southeastern Utah will still see gusty prefrontal winds. Critical fire weather conditions remain possible for this area for Sunday, and later shifts will need to consider extending portions of the existing Red Flag Warnings.

Behind the cold front, temperatures will fall well below normal for Sunday (15-22 degrees in the north and 5-12 degrees in the south), and most northern Utah valleys will likely fail to reach 70 degrees for a high temperature. Showers can be expected across northern Utah near and behind the cold front once again Saturday night into Sunday, with even a potential for a dusting of snow on the higher ridgelines. Colder valleys such as the Cache Valley and Wasatch Back may see frost Sunday night.

The airmass will trend warmer and drier again for the early to middle part of next week. However, with a persistent southwesterly flow, at least localized critical fire weather conditions will remain in place for the southeast and east-central valleys.

AVIATION...KSLC

Southeasterly winds will persist overnight, becoming gusty after 13z and continuing to increase through the afternoon. Winds may further increase to as high as 40kts shortly before a cold front arriving between 01-02z, which will produce a quick transition to strong northwesterly winds. VFR conditions will prevail outside of any blowing dust. Wildfire smoke may also cause slantwise VIS reductions at times.

REST OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING...Southerly winds will gradually increase during the overnight hours, especially increasing after sunrise. Southwesterly winds will be very gusty during the afternoon, reaching broadly 30-45kts across the area. An approaching cold front will push into NW UT by late afternoon, producing a quick transition to strong westerly to northwesterly winds. However, this front will likely dissipate before reaching south of KPVU. While most sites will remain VFR, some sites could see VIS reductions at times due to blowing dust and/or wildfire smoke.

FIRE WEATHER

A widespread and significant period of critical fire weather conditions will occur across Utah Friday into Saturday. Wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph will develop across much of Utah by early Friday afternoon. This will combine with humidities as low as 5 to 10 percent to bring widespread critical fire weather conditions. For fire weather zones 493, 495 and 496, these conditions will represent a Particularly Dangerous Situation, where extreme fire weather conditions are expected.

The first of several cold fronts will reach far northwestern Utah this afternoon, bringing a marked and strong wind shift to portions of fire weather zone 478 near the Idaho and Nevada borders. This front will weaken quickly across northern Utah but will bring somewhat better overnight recoveries to areas north of I-80 Friday night. South of I-80, recoveries will quickly shift from poor to no recovery Friday night.

With a slight increase in moisture across the region Saturday, minimum humidities will increase to around 10 to 15 percent in most areas. Southwest winds with gusts to 40 to 50 mph will redevelop across nearly the entire state by early Saturday afternoon, bringing another period of critical fire weather conditions to all zones with critical fuels.

A series of increasingly strong cold fronts will cross northern Utah Sunday, reaching central Utah by Sunday afternoon. Ahead of these cold fronts, southeastern Utah will continue to see wind gusts around 30-40 mph, with humidities falling to around 5 to 10 percent Sunday. This area (fire weather zones 489, 494 and 498) will continue to see critical fire weather conditions Sunday afternoon and evening.

Much colder temperatures will build into the region behind this cold front, with temperatures averaging around 10 to 20 degrees below normal across northern Utah, 5 to 15 degrees below normal across most of southern Utah.

As winds increase again Monday into Tuesday across eastern Utah, locally critical to critical fire weather conditions will continue to be possible.

SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

UT...Red Flag Warning from 9 AM this morning to midnight MDT Saturday night for UTZ478-479-482-484-488-492-495-497.

Wind Advisory from 6 PM this evening to midnight MDT tonight for UTZ101.

Red Flag Warning from 9 AM this morning to 9 PM MDT Sunday for UTZ489-494-498.

Wind Advisory from 9 AM this morning to midnight MDT tonight for UTZ115-116-118-119-122-123-126>128.

Red Flag Warning from 9 AM this morning to 3 AM MDT Sunday for UTZ493-496.

WY...None.