textproduct: Salt Lake City

KEY MESSAGES, Issued 1009 PM MDT Fri Sep 11 2026

- A marginal risk (level 1/4) for excessive rainfall is in place across portions of southern Utah through Tuesday.

- Gusty winds up to 45 mph will develop across portions of northern Utah Saturday night into early Sunday morning. Wind gusts to 40 mph will continue behind the cold front through Sunday evening.

DISCUSSION, Issued 225 PM MDT Fri Sep 11 2026

While an increase in moisture is noted across the central and southern portions of Utah this afternoon, the coverage of showers and thunderstorms is rather dismal as originally anticipated. That said, it is evident that the environment is conducive to thunderstorms and heavy rainfall as SPC mesoanalysis suggests upwards of 1500-2000J/kg of CAPE paired with PWAT values around 1 inch in southern Utah. One singular storm moving across the southern area has been able to tap into this instability and maintain itself while the remainder of the thunderstorm activity has been rather short-lived. In any case, moisture has positioned itself in place across the southern half of Utah and will continue to increase subtly over the next couple of days.

Coverage of showers and thunderstorms is anticipated to be just as isolated on Saturday as weak subsidence in the wake of the current shortwave inhibits widespread thunderstorm activity. The more noteworthy widespread weather that Saturday will feature will be an increase in southwest winds across much of the region, with the strongest winds targeting west-central and southwest Utah, as well as southwest Wyoming. In these areas, afternoon wind gusts will reach upwards of 30-35 mph as a trough remains over the PacNW region. This trough is slated to progress inland and graze northern Utah through the second half of Sunday and into Monday morning, introducing a cold front to the northern area. Behind the cold front, a brief period of stronger west to northwest winds can be expected in northern Utah on the lee sides of mountain ranges.

Cooler temperatures are expected in the wake of the cold front on Monday across the northern area, with warm southerly return flow bringing a gradual warming trend into the middle of the week. For southern Utah, some level of moisture will remain in place from now through next week, bringing at least a chance for showers and thunderstorms each afternoon.

AVIATION

KSLC...Generally non-impactful weather expected to persist through the TAF period. VFR conditions will prevail with isolated cloud cover above 10 kft or so. Winds will follow a diurnally typical direction pattern, shifting to the NW around 18-20Z Saturday, and back to SE around 02-04Z Sunday. Southerly winds will then likely increase through Sunday morning ahead of an approaching system.

REST OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING...Isolated showers and thunderstorms will be possible for southern and eastern Utah terminals Saturday afternoon. Otherwise, VFR conditions are expected to prevail with a mix of mid to upper level clouds filtering through. Winds will tend to follow a diurnally typical pattern, with south to southwesterly winds beginning to increase near sunrise Sunday morning ahead of an approaching system.

FIRE WEATHER, Issued 207 AM MDT Sat Sep 12 2026

Sufficient moisture will linger across portions of southern and eastern Utah, resulting in isolated showers and thunderstorms primarily during the daytime hours. A stronger approaching system will bring gusty conditions, generally from the south to southwest into Sunday. A largely dry associated cold frontal boundary will be pushed southward through Utah roughly late Sunday into the daytime Monday. Following this frontal passage, winds will generally shift north to northwest, with a period of gusty winds also likely to accompany it. This will be especially true for the lee sides of northern Utah mountain ranges and terrain features. Cooler temperatures will follow the front, with the more pronounced temperature drops noted across the northern half of Utah. Temperatures will then gradually trend upwards throughout the upcoming week. Humidity overall will remain fairly low with daytime minimum values in valley locations likely falling into the teens. That said, enough moisture will linger to allow isolated high based shower and thunderstorm chances across portions of southern and eastern Utah, primarily during the day, through the upcoming week.

SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

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