Winter wallop continues with storms impacting your Friday, Saturday and Sunday
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – Happy Friday, Utah! We have had a very wintery and active couple of days with storms.
The bottom line? A winter storm will bring blowing snow and evening commute impacts to parts of the Wasatch Front, with another strong storm taking aim at the weekend with heavy snow expected.
Before we get into the storm, it’s worth noting that temperatures remain cold today but will be slightly warmer than yesterday. For most, highs will be in the upper 20s and low to mid 30s with only a couple of areas like St. George sneaking into the low 40s. The storm pattern, though, is the biggest weather heading as we close out the work week and head into Martin Luther King weekend.
Lake effect snow was the name of the winter game Thursday as light snow showers persisted throughout the day and into the evening commute in northern Utah. The mountains will continue to see snow into Friday morning and that’s when two defined windows for snow become the focus of the forecast.
These incoming storms will pack a punch ushering in gusty winds and blowing snow, which will bring Friday evening commute impacts as well as jaw-dropping mountain snow accumulations and the expectation of moderate valley snow accumulations in Northern and Central Utah.
As a result of expected snow accumulation in the high country over the next 72 hours, Winter Storm Warnings went into effect at 11 p.m. last night for the Wasatch Mountains, Wasatch Back, Western Uintas, Wasatch Plateau and Central Mountains and remain in effect through Sunday at 5 p.m. Widespread blowing snow is expected for areas underneath this warning, with wind gusts up to 40 mph for the Wasatch Back, and between 50-65 miles per hour for the Wasatch Mountains, Central Mountains and Western Uintas. Travel over the next three days in these areas will likely be extremely difficult and dangerous to impossible.
As far as valleys go, moderate snowfall is expected in both Northern and Central Utah. Right now, a Winter Storm Watch from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon remains in effect and includes the Wasatch Front, Cache Valley, Tooele and Rush Valleys, Box Elder County and parts of Juab and Millard Counties. Widespread winter driving conditions are expected in the valleys as these incoming storms impact the areas. Winter Storm Watches are generally issued when conditions are favorable for hazardous winter conditions and give advanced notice of about 24-36 hours.
These storms will hit during two different timeframes, the first from Friday afternoon into Saturday morning and the second from Saturday afternoon into Sunday. It looks like the heaviest snow will fall overnight both of these days, but blowing snow does take aim at tonight’s evening commute for the Wasatch Front from Salt Lake County north to the state line.
The Utah Department of Transportation has issued travel advisories saying periods of blowing snow should be expected through Saturday at 10 a.m., with the best threat for road snow in the Salt Lake Valley Friday night. We’ve already had rough, wintry commutes this week and Friday night could bring a repeat performance. If you don’t have to travel, it’s a good idea to stay off the roads.
When it comes to expected snow totals, Northern and Central valleys will see an additional 1-4″, benches could get 3-6″, mountain valleys will pick up between 6-12″, mountains could get anywhere from 10-20″ of new snow, and the Upper Cottonwoods could pick up 12-24″ by Saturday morning.
When the second storm moves in, which is an atmospheric river event, meaning we will have moisture transported from the tropics, it will bring heavy, slightly denser snow. Saturday through Sunday, the valleys could pick up between 4-10″ of snow, benches could get 8-16″, mountain valleys could see 10-20″ of additional snow, and mountains, including the Cottonwoods, could see another 15-36″ of fresh snow!
Safe to say, it’s going to be a wild-weather ride!
Temperatures during the next 7-day period will continue to range below seasonal averages with cool/chilly days and cold nights. Thankfully, this active pattern is just what we need to help catch back up to our snowpack deficit, but you can expect avalanche danger to continue to climb.
We will continue to monitor each of these winter systems and keep you posted on the latest developments in your 4Warn Weather forecast both on-air and online, we are Good4Utah!
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