Utah County to see rain in valley, snow in mountains over next few weeks
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- Snow is on the ground near Utah Lake in Saratoga Springs on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, after a winter storm blew through Utah County.
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- A school bus drives through a neighborhood in Saratoga Springs on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, after a snowstorm blew through Utah County.
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- Snow blankets the ground and Utah Lake near Saratoga Springs on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, after a winter storm blew through Utah County.
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- The mountains surrounding Utah Valley are covered in snow on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, after a winter storm blew through Utah County.
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- Snow is on the ground near Utah Lake in Saratoga Springs on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, after a winter storm blew through Utah County.
Utah County residents woke up to several inches of snow Wednesday morning, but the region should get a reprieve for a couple of days.
A winter storm warning on Wednesday lasted until 11 a.m. and is not expected to resume, as snow began melting in the late afternoon. For the remainder of the week, Hayden Mahan, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City, said no winter storm warnings or weather advisories are expected for Utah County in the valley, although snowstorms are expected to continue in the mountains.
Around midnight Wednesday, a warm storm is expected to move through Utah County and last a few hours, meaning rain in the valley and snow in the mountains. The next storm in the valley is expected to be another warm storm moving in Saturday night and lasting through Sunday, with another potential warm storm next Tuesday.
For the next few weeks, Mahan said, Utah County residents can expect a consistent pattern of rain in the valley, snow in the mountains and the possibility of small amounts of snow mixed with rain in the valley.
“We’re not anticipating any major valley snowstorms, but (we) can’t rule out some snow here and there mixing in,” he said. “But (it) should be mostly rain.”
Wednesday’s afternoon commute was affected by road snow around Salt Lake Valley north, Mahan said, but road conditions improved later in the afternoon and evening, with temperatures expected to rise above freezing. For the remainder of the week, roads are expected to be wet due to rain, but conditions should be manageable across Utah County, he added.
Despite Wednesday’s snow, the school day continued as usual for students in Alpine, Nebo and Provo City school districts, KUTV reported. While public schools remained open with no delayed starts, some private schools opted for distance learning.
Avalanche danger in Provo-area mountains and most other mountain areas in northern and central Utah is high. On Wednesday, the Utah Avalanche Center suggested avoiding slopes that are steeper than 30 degrees or anything connected to such slopes.
Mahan suggested that anyone planning on going into the mountains should check the avalanche conditions, to have a beacon that your location can be tracked through and to be extra cautious, even in places they are used to.
He explained they have been seeing snow slides not just on high-elevation terrain but also on low-elevation terrain, which he described as unusual. “Recently, we’ve even been seeing avalanches along terrain that isn’t necessarily considered that steep or really that avalanche prone,” he said.
Current avalanche conditions, he added, are “a little bit abnormal right now. So (in) places that don’t typically see slides, you might want to be a little bit more cautious.”
The high avalanche danger, Mahan explained, is due to the three-week dry period after the snowfall in early December, which caused that first layer of snow to become weak. As the new layer of heavy, wet snow fell on top, it caused the first layer to fail and slide, causing avalanches. In addition, “We’ve had just ridiculous winds up in the high terrain,” Mahan said. “So lots of blowing and drifting snow, and so we’ve had a lot of snow that’s been drifting over ridge lines and just exacerbating the conditions.”
For continued updates on the weather conditions in the valley and mountain ranges, visit www.weather.gov/slc, and for updates on avalanche danger, visit utahavalanchecenter.org.
