SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – Hey there Utah, hopefully, you are having a marvelous Monday! Only a few showers today, but from Tuesday into Wednesday, our next atmospheric river event will bring widespread wet weather to Utah! 

A weak disturbance moving through will bring isolated showers to Utah today while daytime highs will reach close to seasonal averages. In northern Utah, we’ll see mainly 30s and 40s with a few along the Wasatch Front sneaking into the low 50s. Down south highs will mainly be in the 40s and 50s as St. George climbs into the mid 60s. Outside of any wet weather skies will be partly cloudy to partly sunny. Into tonight any wet weather potential goes down as we turn chilly.

As we move into our Tuesday the focus will be on our next big storm system that will move in. This storm will be tapping into the atmospheric river which is subtropical moisture coming in off the Pacific. This will result in widespread wet weather across Utah likely from the second half of Tuesday through Wednesday. On Tuesday, a warm front will lift north so temperatures will come up even more compared to today. The warmer air will result in snow levels climbing quite a bit. By the afternoon the snow level in northern Utah could exceed 7000 ft. while it could exceed 9000 ft. in southern Utah. 

The snow levels will gradually begin to drop Tuesday night through Wednesday as colder air works its way back behind a cold front and, by Wednesday night, the snow level in northern Utah could drop back down to the benches. While this event will mainly be valley rain and mountain snow, if the moisture lingers behind the front there is a chance that some benches and typically colder valleys could see snow, but it’s not a guarantee. 

With healthy moisture expected to move in, heavy mountain snow is expected. The National Weather Service has issued Winter Storm Warnings that will go into effect Tuesday afternoon and will continue through Wednesday night for the northern and southern mountains. The northern mountain could potentially pick up between 1-2 feet with isolated higher amounts being possible. The southern mountains could see 6-12″ with isolated spots like Brian Head and the Pine Valleys potentially getting closer to 18″. In both warnings, strong winds are expected. 

When it comes to expected totals, northern mountains will likely see between 8-16″ with 12-24″ for the cottonwoods. Central mountains could see 4-10″ with southern mountains seeing between 6-12″. Mountain valleys are likely to see 1-6″ with possibly up to 8″ around Park City, but in both cases, times of straight rain will be possible given the higher snow levels. On the benches and typically colder valleys like Cache in northern Utah a trace-3″ looks possible. For our valleys rain is most likely, however, if the moisture lingers as the colder air moves in, minor accumulations can’t be ruled out between late Wednesday and early Thursday. 

By Thursday afternoon, skies look to be dry across the board as the colder air settles in. We’ll close out the workweek with daytime highs about 5-10 degrees below average. Temperatures won’t move much this weekend, but by the end of the weekend into next week more unsettled weather may find its way to Utah. Stay tuned! 

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