SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — It’s going to be another warm and windy day across the state, and by this afternoon we could see some thunderstorm development in South Central Utah. The high pressure that has been dominating our weather set up in Utah, tracks away from us and out of out of the way, which is opening the door for change. A slow-moving area of low pressure off the West Coast sends a piece of energy our way today, and with moisture potential growing with our southerly flow, we could see some showers and isolated storms. An isolated storm is possible in St. George with the chance of showers in the late evening along the Wasatch Front.
As far as temperatures today, daytime highs will mimic what we saw today. Most will see highs in the 70s and 80s, but for areas in the high country, highs will mainly range in the 50s and 60s. Even though it will be cooler today, in Salt Lake City with a high in the low 80s, that’s still more than 10 degrees above our seasonal average of 67 for today. It’s our last day of 80s in Salt Lake for the next several days with wet weather ahead.
Given the warm temperatures we have seen, multiple flood watches, warnings, and advisories are currently in place. Rivers currently under flood warnings are the South Fork of the Ogden River near Huntsville until further notice, the Sevier River near Hatch until early Friday morning, the Little Bear River at Paradise until early Friday morning, Garden City to the Idaho Stateline, and Emigration Creek until Thursday morning. Even though temperatures will cool for the remainder of the work week, most of these rivers and creeks will peak either in the middle of the week or late week.
We also have a flood Watch for Cache Valley near Hyrum Reservoir. In addition to watches and warnings, a flood advisory for Thistle Creek in southern Utah County and northern Sanpete County remains in effect until noon Wednesday. Flooding has caused US-89 to be closed between the US-6/Thistle Jct. and Mt Pleasant.
Even for rivers, streams, and creeks not in alerts, we will likely see significant rises in water levels for most spots through the middle of the week before cooler temperatures arrive. Many waterways will recede by next week, but we have a long runoff season ahead, so dangerous conditions will continue and caution around waterways is critical.
By tonight, that low-pressure system lifts and moves in our direction bringing with it a chance for scattered showers and thunderstorms for Thursday. Highs across the Beehive State will cool slightly tomorrow, and a cold front drops temperatures even more for the close of the work week. This system will likely kick off what is going to be an active stretch of weather for the end of the workweek through the weekend with wet weather potential and seasonal/slightly below-average temperatures.
