Gusty winds Monday afternoon, cooler & wetter conditions arrive Tuesday

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Happy Monday, Utah! It’s been all about the wind machine this afternoon. The pressure gradient between low pressure to our west, and high pressure to our east is giving us strong, gusty winds across a good part of the Beehive state.

Wind Advisories have been issued for parts of Cache Valley, the Ogden Valley, SL Valley, and Tooele Valley, along with the west Desert, Uintah County, and Grand County through late Monday evening. Winds could gust between 30-40 mph on average in these locations. A High Wind Warning is in effect for SW Utah where wind gusts could be between 65-70 mph.

The gusty southerly winds will also help to boost Monday afternoon daytime highs back into the mid to upper 80s for the Wasatch Front, and into the lower 90s for SW Utah.

A strong upper low will move into Utah on Tuesday, bringing big changes back to the region. High temperatures will drop about 20°-30° from Monday afternoon through Tuesday with highs only in the upper 50s to low 60s for northern Utah, with highs only in the mid 70s for SW Utah.

Clouds will help kick off Tuesday, but as the upper low gets closer Tuesday afternoon, look for scattered showers and storms to begin to develop. Widespread showers will become likely Tuesday afternoon and evening across Utah, especially for areas north of I-70.

Scattered showers and storms will remain possible, if not likely throughout the day on Wednesday as the upper low continues to work through Utah. High temperatures will remain below average with highs only in the 50s along the Wasatch Front and 70s for SW Utah. A few high mountain based snow showers and snow squalls may be possible above about 9,000 FT as some cooler air works in with the trough.

The upper trough should begin to exit the area on Thursday, but still keeps isolated rain chances around during the day. Highs will begin to rebound but remain above average during this time.

Friday will be the pick day for the rest of the upcoming week. Look for a mix of clouds and sunshine with warm temperatures across the Beehive state.

Our next storm system begins to approach this weekend, bringing increasing chances for showers and rumbles, along with another round of cooler temperatures.