SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Happy Tuesday, Utah! The smoke is gone as the southwesterly flow from an upper-level trough pushes it away to the east. Not only will we see the increased winds, but this trough will more or less hang out just to our west, which will result in more widespread storm activity for northern Utah as moisture and energy push through our neighborhood in the coming days as temperatures stay warm. We’ll get scattered storms throughout northern Utah while we will likely see isolated activity down south. 

As for today, we’ll see a good coverage of showers and thunderstorms with scattered activity up north with isolated storms down south. In the northwestern corner of our area, we have both a marginal risk (low-end) of excessive rainfall and severe storms. This means that there will be potential for isolated strong to even severe storms capable of strong winds, small hail, and heavy precipitation that could result in localized flooding. 

While the chance for storms won’t be as high in southern Utah, isolated storms will also bring the possibility of flash flooding. This possibility will exist across Mighty 5 and recreation areas in southern Utah including the swell, the staircase, and Lake Powell. For any backcountry hiking plans that involve slot canyons and dry washes, it’s important to have multiple ways to receive warnings and have a plan. Ultimately, it would be best to avoid the slot canyons on a day like today.

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, however, we could even see passing showers with maybe a few rumbles during the overnight with the best chance of staying in northern Utah.

The wet weather potential tomorrow won’t be quite as high, but the overall pattern won’t look too different with scattered to isolated storms, with the chance of storms hanging around for the entire work week. 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 3 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. 

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 agricultural land along the river is expected. 

A flood watch continues for the 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 the 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 Complete Forecast both on-air and online. We are Good4Utah!