SALT LAKE CITY— This year, May is starting on a colder note in Utah. Additionally, the National Weather Service has issued a freeze warning for two counties in the Beehive State.
KSL Meteorologist Matt Johnson predicted the high will be 55 degrees Fahrenheit on May 1 in Utah’s capital city. He said that is about 10 degrees below normal for the date.
However, it’s not the coldest first of May that we’ve ever seen. On May 1, 1954, Salt Lake City only registered a high of 45 degrees.
While 55 is quite the shift from last week’s toasty weather, Johnson said these big temperature shifts are not uncommon in the Spring.
“We get big swings in the month of May, it’s a transition month between…Spring and Summer,” Johnson said. “We can sometimes get little blasts of leftover winter.”
Given how much of Utah’s snowpack has already melted, Johnson called the cool spell, “good news.”
When the snowpack peaked on April 2, Utah had a statewide average of 18.8 inches of water in it.
On Wednesday morning, it was down to 9.5 inches. Based on averages of data recorded over the last 30 years, that is just about a half-inch above where it normally sits at this time of year.
With just about half of the snowpack melted already, Johnson said, “We need this [cold spell] to slow down the water that’s coming down the mountainside.”
Highs are expected to hover in the low-60s for the rest of the week. However, on Saturday, KSL Meteorologists are predicting a high of 77 degrees.
Then, they predict that highs will dip again. They said there is a chance of rain and thunderstorms again on Sunday.
Freeze Warning for two counties
Lower day temperatures usually mean colder weather at night. That’s what will happen on Wednesday night heading into Thursday morning.
Johnson said temperatures have a chance to dip into the upper 20s.
As a result, The National Weather Service has issued a freeze warning for Thursday from midnight until 9 a.m.
While the freeze warning is only for Box Elder and Utah Counties, Johnson said that he thinks the ground could freeze in Cache Valley as well.
People with plants sensitive to the cold are advised to take steps to protect them during the overnight hours.
Related: How to protect your garden as temperatures get cooler
