SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4) – Happy President’s Day, Utah! Another weak storm is grazing Northern Utah today with light mountain snow showers expected into the afternoon.
A few rain/snow showers are possible along the Wasatch Front through late morning, otherwise, mostly cloudy skies are sticking around into Tuesday. Daytime highs will climb back into the 40s along the Wasatch Front this afternoon with low 60s for St. George.
An active weather pattern will continue Tuesday with an impressive winter storm moving into the Beehive State. This system will tap into subtropical moisture and should pack quite a punch for all areas. Moisture will begin in the far northern mountains late tonight and will increase in coverage and intensity throughout the day Tuesday. Snow will continue off and on through Thursday morning for much of the state with incredible snowfall forecasts for the mountains and valleys.
Moisture will start as rain/snow showers for the valleys and change over to snow behind the cold front Tuesday evening. There’s a chance that a changeover to all snow could occur earlier Tuesday afternoon as precipitation rates could be heavy enough to drop temperatures. If the transition over to snow happens earlier in the day, impacts on Tuesday evening’s commute can be expected.
Snowfall estimates are impressive, to say the least. Winter weather related alerts have been issued for our mountain areas with feet of snow expected. The heaviest snowfall will occur over the Northern Mountains and Upper Uintas where 2-4 feet of snow is expected. Most other mountain ranges can expect 1-2 feet of snow with the heaviest snowfall on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Northern Valleys can plan on 6-12 inches with locally higher amounts possible. The Benches could see 8-16 inches with 1-2 feet of snow for the Wasatch Back. Other valleys in Central and Southwest Utah can plan on accumulations of 5-10 inches with higher amounts for areas north of Fillmore to Nephi.
Not only will this storm bring significant snowfall, but it will also bring strong winds and bitterly cold temperatures to the state. Temperatures will plummet by Wednesday with all areas trending 15-20 degrees below normal. Daytime highs will struggle to hit freezing along the Wasatch Front with the mid-40s expected for St. George. Strong winds are expected along the mountain regions with gusts anywhere from 45 mph over the northern areas and up to 65 mph winds along the Southern Mountains Tuesday and Wednesday.
The storm train continues later in the week with another system moving in late Thursday into Friday. This system, however, looks like it will dig further south and will impact more of the southern portion of Utah into the weekend.
Bottom Line?! Winter isn’t done with us just yet, heavy snowfall starting Tuesday afternoon for Northern Utah.
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