SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Utah’s latest storm front continues to work its way through the state on Thursday morning, bringing snow closer to the valley floor.
Users across social media took to sharing photos and videos of the flurries as they fell onto Utah’s mountains.
Alessandro Rigolon, a Sugar House resident and an Associate Professor of Planning at the University of Utah, posted the above video of flurries outside his home. Rigolon told ABC4 Meteorologist Thomas Geboy the video was recorded on the east side of Sugar House at about 4,640 feet.
Meanwhile, U of U Professor of Atmospheric Sciences Jim Steenburgh posted a photo on campus. His photo shows snow starting to stick in the open spaces off of roadways and sidewalks.
The snow is courtesy of Utah’s latest cold front that moved into the state late Wednesday night. The National Weather Service of Salt Lake City warned that Utah’s northern mountains could see five to ten inches of snow as the flurries inch closer to the valleys.
Most of the snow is staying away from the valley floors, hitting only Utah’s benches, which Geboy explains range anywhere from 4,500 feet to 6,000 feet in elevation. For reference, Salt Lake City’s valley floor is at 4,200 feet.
In Utah’s higher elevations, the snow stake at Alta, which sits at roughly 9,660 feet in elevation, has recorded five inches of snow as of Thursday morning. On Wednesday before the storm hit, the NWS said it was possible Alta and the Western Uintas could get as much as a foot of snow from the storm.
Utah Department of Transportation cameras across Utah reveal snow sticking in several areas in Utah’s higher elevations. Near white-out conditions and a healthy accumulation of snow on off the highway can be seen in one camera located on Kearns Boulevard and Comstock Drive in Park City.
Of course, this isn’t the first bit of snowfall Utah has seen so far this season, but it is the closest powder has come to reaching the valley floor. In early September, Utah ski resorts were celebrating an early snowfall courtesy of an early fall cold front.
This may just be the beginning of a wet winter for Utah. Earlier this month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it expects Utah to be “above normal” when it comes to precipitation. The wetter winter is in part due to an “El Niño” weather pattern settling into the region. During an El Niño, temperatures tend to run higher and winters tend to be wetter, especially in the southern United States.
NOAA’s predictions are typically on par with season developments, but they are still predictions. Things can change but Utah’s dusting of snow on Thursday may be an indicator of more to come.
Be sure to stay on top of Utah’s weather by following ABC4’s 4Warn Weather Team online and on-air.