January Outlook

Plan on above normal precipitation for the far southern areas of Utah in January with below normal in the far north. Look for near normal temperatures for most of Utah in January with below normal temperatures for the southeast corner.

Light snow (17)

Look for light snow today into Thursday over areas of Utah with local trace-2" amounts in the valleys and 1-2" mountains.

Current snow cover

White Christmas! (16)

Another storm moves into Utah on Christmas eve with most of the widespread snow ending during the morning hours on Christmas day, a few spotty snow showers lingering over and near the mountains into the afternoon. Plan on a general 3-6" (local 8-12") of snow for most Utah mountains areas above 7,000 ft. Look for a general 1-3" (local 4-6" benches) of snow for the Wasatch front valleys. Click on the below map for the WRF model forecasted snow for this storm. Enjoy!

More snow (15)

Current significant storm will wind down today, over 4.50" water and 36" snow in places with the current storm! The next smaller but colder storm is expected to move in the second half of Tuesday night into Wednesday morning with most of the snow ending mid morning on Wednesday but there will be continued lighter snow showers at times over and near the mountains into Thursday morning. Look for trace-3" for the valleys benches with this storm, 2-5" mountains valleys, and 4-10" mountains above 7,000 ft. Click on the below map for the WRF model forecasted snow for this latest storm.

Second significant storm of the year! (14)

A very strong and moist pacific jet will bring a storm that will deliver wide spread valley rain changing to snow by Tuesday, heavy wet snow and strong winds in the mountains with snow levels rising up as high as 6,000 ft on Monday afternoon/evening along the Wasatch Front. Most of the heavy rain/snow with this strong storm is expected to end during the morning hours on Tuesday with a few lingering lighter snow showers mainly over the mountains by afternoon ahead of yet another storm on Tuesday night and Wednesday. With this first storm plan on a general 15-30" snow for most all central/northern Utah mountains above 7,000 ft, 8-14" for mountains valleys. Along the Wasatch Front things get tricky depending on when the rain changes back over to snow but plan on a general trace-2" in the valleys with local 3-8" bench areas favoring the central/southern Wasatch Front. Click on the below map for the WRF model forecasted snow between 5am Monday and 5am Wednesday, note that this does include some of the expected snow fall from the next storm.

One more small storm (13)

Look for one more round of generally light snow on Sunday night into early Monday ahead of a much larger storm that is expected to move in on Monday afternoon. Plan on a general trace-2" for the Wasatch Front valleys/benches, 3-5" for the northern Utah mountains above 7,000 ft. Click on the below picture for the WRF model forecasted snow between 5am Sunday and 5am Monday.

Small storm (12)

A small storm is expected to bring generally light snow to northern Utah on Saturday night into the early morning hours on Sunday. Plan on a general trace-2" of snow along the Wasatch Front valleys/benches focused north of Salt Lake City, 2-5" in the mountains. Click on the below map for the WRF model forecasted snow for this small storm.

Snow keeps coming (11)

A quick moving storm is expected to bring a general 3-7" of snow to the northern Utah mountains above 7,000 ft on Wednesday night, most snow ending by sunrise on Thursday. Look for a trace to 3" of snow along the Wasatch Front focused on the east benches. Click on the below picture for WRF model forecasted snow between 5am Wednesday and 5am on Friday.

Western US Snow Water Equivalent % of Normal

First significant storm of the year! (10)

The first significant winter storm of the year is forecasted to move into Utah on Sunday night, most snow ending by dark on Tuesday. Plan on a general 9-14" (16-20" Cottonwoods, 20-24"+ Oquirrh's) for most central and northern Utah mountains above 7,000 ft. Look for most Wasatch front valleys to see 2-5" with 6-8"+ benches areas, highest valley snow amounts south of the Great Salt Lake with lowest amounts in the bottom of Utah valley. Click on the below map for the WRF model forecasted snow for this storm.

First of something bigger (9)

The first of what looks to be a bigger storm on Monday pushes a cold front through Utah from northwest to southeast on Thursday evening into the morning hours on Friday. Most of the rain/snow is expected to fall with the front for a few hours, just a few scattered snow showers lingering mainly over and near the mountains behind the front through the day on Saturday with little additional accumulation. Plan on a general 2-5" (local 6-9") of snow for most central and northern Utah mountains above 7,000 ft with 1-4" for the southern and eastern Utah mountains. In the northern Utah valleys plan on a trace-1" with local 1-3" benches. Click on the below map for WRF model forecasted snow between 5am Thursday and 5am Saturday.

Active weather pattern setting up.

Just for fun take a look (click on image to make bigger) at the 5.4km WRF-GFS model forecasted snow between 5pm Monday the 7th and 5pm Tuesday the 15th. The white areas are 49"+! As of now I'm thinking up to 36" in some of the higher Utah mountain areas by this time next week.

Quick moving storm clips northern Utah (8)

A fast moving storm will clip northern Utah on Monday night as most of the snow and storm energy stays in the northern Rockies. Plan on a general 1/2-2" of snow for the central/northern Wasatch and Uinta mountains with 2-6" of snow for the Logan area mountains. Click on the below map for WRF model forecasted snow for this storm between 5am Monday and 5am Tuesday.

November Climatic Summary

Click on the below link
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/slc/climate/CLM/November2015_Climatic_Summary.pdf

Current Utah Snow Cover

Click on the below map for more detail.