SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – Happy Thursday, Utah! Get ready for another round of afternoon and evening thunderstorms today.

The bottom line? Today brings potential for isolated strong storms to northern Utah while southern Utah dries out slightly with warm and windy conditions. 

The isolated storms will favor Northern and Central Utah, but the threat extends further south today with the chance of a storm developing from Cache County to Iron County.  An upper-level trough hanging out in the Great Basin is helping to foster an environment for these storms to develop, with peak timing for storms aided by daytime heating in the afternoon and evening.

You can also expect temperatures to stay above average throughout the state. With a lower chance for showers and storms in southern Utah, the risk for flash flooding goes to unlikely for our southern Utah recreation areas including our national parks.

Outside of any wet weather today will bring partly cloudy to partly sunny skies as daytime highs climb to roughly 5-10 degrees above seasonal norms with most reaching the 70s and 80s outside of mountain areas. St. George will once again come in the warm spot with a high in the low 90s. Past sundown tonight the wet weather potential will begin to drop as we lose the instability created by the daytime heating, but the chance for storms returns for the close of the work week in the Northern half of the state.

The overall pattern won’t look too different over the next few days including the slight chance of storms for some over Memorial Day weekend. This is one of those patterns where some may see multiple rounds of wet weather from today through Friday while some get very little or nothing. Regardless, stay weather aware of the potential for storms. 

FLOOD ALERTS

Warming temperatures this week mean that flood concerns continue with multiple flood watches and warnings. We currently have four flood warnings in effect.

The warning for the Bear River in Rich County has been extended through next Friday. The flood warning for the Sevier River near Hatch and the flood warning for the South Fork of the Ogden River near Huntsville remain in effect until further notice. The newest warning is for the Logan River near Logan as minor flooding is expected. 

A Flood Advisory is in effect for the Bear River as farmland and roads see minor flooding near Corinne. We also have a flood advisory in Eastern Utah for the Dolores River and the Colorado Rivers near Cisco that’s causing some minor flooding in Grand County.

The Flood Watch for the Green River near Jensen has been upgraded to an advisory one that will continue through the weekend. The newest advisory is a flood advisory for the Duchesne River at Randlett until further notice as minor flooding of low-lying agriculture land along the river is expected. 

A Flood Watch continues for Little Bear River below the Hyrum Dam and the low Weber River near Plain City.

For context a flood warning means that flooding is either occurring now or is expected, an advisory means that either minor flooding is occurring or that the waterway is above action stage with the potential for flooding, and a watch means that flooding is possible. Even for waterways not in alert, they will continue to run high, fast, cold, and extremely dangerous as our snowpack melts and as water is released from reservoirs. Be sure to keep a safe distance from raging waters. 

Stay on top of all of Utah’s changing weather and flood concerns with Utah’s Most Accurate Forecast both on-air and online. We are Good4Utah!