Utah Weather

Thursday, October 15, 2015

November Outlook

Plan on above normal precipitation for the southern and eastern areas of Utah with warmer than normal temperatures for the western and northern areas.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

September 2015 Climatic Summary

Click on the below link
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/slc/climate/CLM/September2015_Climatic_Summary.pdf

Thursday, September 17, 2015

This winter is very likely going to be a El Niño winter, possibly one of the strongest on record. See the below map for precipitation anomalies during a typical El Niño winter. Go to https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/enso/united-states-el-ni%C3%B1o-impacts-0 to see the general North America El Niño winter impact. In general weak/moderate El Niño's have no statistical impact on the Wasatch Front and northern Utah weather, slight increase towards a wet winter in Southern Utah. A strong El Niño like the one forecasted this winter do slightly increase the chance of above normal precipitation for the Wasatch Front and Northern Utah, greatly increases the chances for a wet winter in southern Utah. The last 5 strong El Niño events were 1957-1958, 1965-1966, 1972-1973, 1982-1983, and 1997-1998. In these years the Alta UDOT November through April snowfall averaged 554" which is above the long term average of 490". Not a big increase for Alta but it should be noted that many of the storms during a El Niño years come from the south which is typically not good for the Cottonwoods, much better for Sundance/Park City areas and other areas that do well in a southerly flow.

For this winter plan on 80-90% of normal for the northern Wasatch, 90-100% for the central Wasatch, 100-110% of normal for the southern Wasatch, 110-120% for central Utah, 120%+ for southern and southeastern Utah.