SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Happy Friday, Utah! After a dry and cool stretch of weather, we’re turning things up as we begin the month of December.

Between today through the weekend, we’ll see a series of storms move through. The storm today will bring widespread wet weather across the state while northern Utah will be the emphasis over the weekend.

As a result of this onset of storms, winter alerts are now in effect for a good portion of northern and central Utah. A Winter Storm Warning has been issued for the Wasatch Mountains and Wasatch Back. The warning is now in effect and will hold through 5 a.m. Monday morning for the mountains and is set to expire for the Wasatch Back by Sunday at 5 p.m.

The warning holds for all three storm systems bringing snow potential through early Monday morning. Heavy snow is expected, with high snow accumulations expected with 20 to 30 inches expected for the Northern Mountains, and even higher totals possible for the Upper Cottonwoods.

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On top of snow, winds gusting as high as 50mph later Friday night through Sunday are expected so blowing snow should be expected.

As for the Wasatch Back, plenty of snow is expected as well as tricky winter travel. Total snow accumulations of 8 to 16 inches, with the greatest accumulations in the Ogden Valley, which is typically favored with a westerly flow and within this storm setup.

Northern Utah valleys are expected to see accumulating snowfall from these storms. As a result, Winter Weather Advisories remain in effect through the first half of Sunday.

The advisory impacts the Northern Wasatch Front, Salt Lake County, Cache Valley, Western Uinta Mountains, Central Mountains and Wasatch Plateau.

Snow totals will differ in each one of these areas, but decent snow accumulation is expected for the valleys and benches. We also have an advisory for the Central Mountains and western Uintas as 6″+ of snow is likely to fall between now and Sunday.

Winter driving conditions are expected. Periodic road snow and slush will create slick roads, especially during the overnight and early morning hours.

As for today, at the lunch hour, most along/near the I-15 corridor had seen some wet weather, and we’ll likely see a brief break for most locations this afternoon as the cold front driven by our first storm moves away to the east. More moisture will be coming in from the northwest by this evening, though, as another piece of energy moves in from the northwest.

Outside of any wet weather today you can expect partly cloudy to mostly cloudy skies with daytime highs that will range in the 30s and 40s for most. Also, with this storm moving through, we’ll see an improvement in our air quality.

Even after tonight’s storm clears, we have another one on its heels, which will bring even more moisture potential over the weekend. While today will bring wet weather statewide, the bulk of the moisture we see this weekend will be confined to the northern half of the state, mainly north of I-70. Even though our wet weather potential will stay high it won’t be non-stop.

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Expect any wet weather to come in waves with likely a few breaks in the action. Our Saturday looks to bring mainly valley and mountain snow; however, temperatures will start to creep up, and by tomorrow evening we could see a wintry mix down to our lowest valley floors.

On Sunday, a southerly wind will help push up temperatures even more, meaning that in our valleys, including the Wasatch Front, we could see rain while heavy snow continues in the mountains.

Wet weather potential will stay high through Sunday night before high pressure looks to take charge by early next week resulting in calmer skies and near/slightly above average temperatures.

Our stormy pattern over the weekend looks like it will result in a healthy dose of moisture in central and northern Utah. The moisture will result in what will likely be the most significant snowfall of the season so far.

Between Friday and Sunday, our northern mountains could end up receiving between 15-30″ of snow while the upper cottonwoods and high Uintas could receive a foot and a half to three feet.

Given northern Utah will see the bulk of the moisture, the central and southern mountains won’t see as much, but snow is still expected with the central mountains likely picking up between 8-16″ while the southern mountains could see between 2-6″.

Mountain valleys, mainly in northern Utah will likely see between 8-16″ while our typically colder valleys, like Cache, and the benches in northern Utah could see between 4-10″.

Northern valleys, including the Wasatch Front, could end up with 1-6″ while the I-15 corridor from Cedar City to Nephi could pick up 1-4″. There are many evolving parts of this progressive storm pattern so make sure you stay with the 4Warn Weather Team for updates.

With Utah’s 4Warn Forecast, both on-air and online, you can stay on top of all the weather changes the Beehive State has to offer. We are Good4Utah!

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