SALT LAKE CITY — This Christmas was one for the record books in Utah, as Salt Lake City tied its warmest temperature ever recorded on the holiday in 151 years.
The city’s official temperature reached 59 degrees Fahrenheit at midnight and several times in the afternoon, matching the previous holiday high set in 1955. But a dose of more seasonal weather is on its way.
Federal forecasters issued a series of winter weather advisories that blanket high-elevation areas across the state, which go into effect on Friday and last throughout most of the weekend. The National Weather Service also issued a series of wind-related advisories ahead of the next round of moisture
It comes after heavy rainfall in southwest Utah prompted a flood warning that expired late Christmas morning.
A warm, rainy and windy Christmas
Above-average and record temperatures were reported all across Utah on Christmas morning, not just in its capital city. That’s been the case over the past few days, even with storms that arrived on Wednesday.
Those storms dumped the most precipitation across southwest and northern Utah, including between 2 and 5 inches of precipitation near Iron, Kane and Washington by early Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. It prompted the agency to issue a flood warning for parts of the Virgin and Santa Clara rivers, as well as Coal Creek.
Flooding was likely in other parts of the region, as well.
Some scattered showers are possible throughout Christmas Day, especially in northern Utah, Christmas night, but it will also remain warm and windy, says KSL meteorologist Devan Masciulli. Another cold front is expected to arrive in Utah on Friday, and its pending arrival is helping the state pick up winds from the southwest that are bringing in the record warmth and also strong wind gusts.
Gusts exceeding 60 mph were reported in some mountain, bench and valley areas across the state on Christmas Eve, Wednesday. A high wind warning for the Tooele and Rush valleys expired Christmas night, but not before creating some headaches.
Strong winds caused at least one semitruck rollover on I-80 Thursday afternoon, Utah Highway Patrol troopers said.
Wind advisories were issued for other parts of western Utah, from Wendover to Cedar City, where gusts over 50 mph are possible through late Friday afternoon, which is about the time the next cold front is expected to arrive in the state.
A snowy weekend ahead
More moisture is expected in Utah after Christmas. A mix of valley rain and mountain snow is forecast for Friday, and the cold front should “snow levels rapidly” once it arrives by Friday afternoon or evening, Masciulli said.
“We’ll have some brief heavy rain roll through late Friday and into Saturday morning. … And there’s even a chance another piece comes in Saturday night into Sunday,” she said.
It could produce some strong snowfall totals for ranges across the state. The weather service’s advisories advise that:
- 6 to 16 inches of snow is possible in the Wasatch Mountains and Wasatch Plateau/Book Cliffs by early Sunday. Totals closer to 20 inches are possible in the upper Cottonwood canyons and Bear River Range.
- 5 to 12 inches of snow is possible in the southern, central and Western Uinta mountains by early Sunday. Higher totals are possible in the Tushar Range and the High Uintas.
Snow is also likely in other lower-elevation areas. One National Weather Service model projects that Park City could end up with 6 inches of snow by early Sunday.
Several valley communities could receive a trace to an inch or two, depending on different variables. Salt Lake City could also receive its first measurable snow of the season. Utah’s capital city was listed as having a 85% chance of receiving at least 0.1 inch of snow, but odds could change as the storm arrives. The city’s record for latest first snowfall was set on Jan. 2, 1891.
Temperatures will be much cooler either way. High temperatures are expected to drop into the 30s across the Wasatch Front and northern Utah by this weekend. They’re also expected to fall into the upper 40s and low 50s closer to St. George.
Full seven-day forecasts for areas across Utah can be found online, at the KSL Weather Center.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
