SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Happy Friday, Utah, and happy Cinco de Mayo! Today will have a similar look and feel compared to what we had yesterday, it just won’t be on the same magnitude. We’ll see the chance for scattered showers and thunderstorms once again, but we won’t see quite as many compared to what we saw yesterday.
The best chance for storms will generally be from the afternoon through the early evening. Severe weather is not expected, but a few strong storms with gusty winds, small hail, locally heavy precipitation, and graupel will be possible. So if you have any plans this afternoon and evening, stay on top of the weather.
Outside of any wet weather, we’ll get partly to mostly cloudy skies with more gusty winds. Winds will likely gust between 20-30 mph for most, but in SE Utah, a few gusts over 40 mph will be possible.
Daytime highs for most will range in the 50s and 60s with the Wasatch Front seeing low to mid-60s. For northern Utah, that is very seasonal, but in southern Utah, that’s below average. In St. George, the high today will likely come in just shy of 70 which is more than 10 degrees below normal!
Active skies will hang around for the weekend as the low pressure that has been sending energy our way finally moves through. This will result in a very good chance for scattered showers and thunderstorms in northern Utah once again, but south of I-70 the wet weather potential will begin to drop, but a few showers as far south as Iron County can’t be ruled out on Saturday.
Overall, Saturday will yield a better chance for wet weather than Sunday. The active weather up north will result in temperatures tomorrow being similar to what we get today while southern Utah will start to see temperatures begin to climb a little bit.
As we begin next week, we’ll see the weather calm a bit, but we won’t be able to completely eliminate the chance for wet weather in northern Utah. Daytime highs will also come up a bit and by Monday and Tuesday, highs will be near or even slightly above seasonal norms. Forecast models are hinting that we could see another system move in for the middle of the workweek to bring us back a chance for showers and a slight drop in temperatures for the second half of the workweek.
FLOOD ALERTS
The cooler air thanks to our active weather is expected to help slow down the high flow in our rivers, creeks, and streams, but multiple flood alerts still remain in place. Rivers currently under flood warnings are the South Fork of the Ogden River near Huntsville and the Dolores River to the confluence of the Colorado River are in effect until further notice, and the Sevier River near Hatch until early Saturday night. A flood watch remains in effect for the Lower Weber River near Plain City through Friday afternoon. A flood advisory remains in effect for the Green River near Jensen through this weekend.
Many waterways will recede a bit by early next week, but we have a long runoff season ahead, so dangerous conditions will continue, and caution around waterways is critical. One thing to keep in mind is that depending on how much wet weather we see; it could result in levels staying higher than usual even with the cooler temperatures.
We’ll continue to keep you posted on all watches, warnings, and advisories. Stay on top of all of Utah’s changing weather and flood concerns both on-air and online. We are Good4Utah!
