SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The Salt Lake City office National Weather Service recently reported that this winter season has seen the most Winter Storm Warnings and Winter Weather Advisories than any season dating back to 2008 for Advisories and 2005 for Warnings. And it’s fair to say that we’ll be adding to that total until the season finally comes to an end. Snow season in Utah typically runs from October through April.
Winter Storm Warnings are issued when the NWS is certain of a storm and is expecting over 6″ of snow in the valleys and over a foot in the mountains. So far, they’ve issued 19 Warnings this season. The next highest year was 2005 when they issued 15 total. Last year there was 8 total and, in the two years before, each had 6 Warnings. In case you’re wondering, the average number of Warnings since 2005 is just over 9 a year.
For Winter Weather Advisories the criteria can differ, but they are most often issued when there is 6″ or more expected in the mountains and/or enough in the valleys to cause concern. The best way to think about the difference between the two is that an Advisory is saying that they think something could be a danger, and a Warning is when they know it’s going to hit hard.
When it comes to Advisories, this season the NWS has issued 34 so far as opposed to half that total (17) all of last season. The closest to this total came in 2011 with 29 Advisories. That is an average amount since 2008 has been about 22.
As stated, it is very likely that we will be adding to this total, just like we’ve been adding to our snowpack. This has been an amazing season and we’re hoping to keep adding to our totals and give us one of our best water years in a very long time.
Just know that we’ll always give you the most accurate information and let you know when you need to be ready for any type of weather thrown our way. For all the latest, keep it right here on ABC4.com and watch Utah’s Most Accurate Weather Team on ABC4 News.
