Widespread Tuesday storms and showers with elevated flood threat

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Happy Tuesday, Utah! After our summer months delivered below average precipitation, August has changed its weather story with a solid monsoon setup and the chance for scattered thunderstorms and showers through different portions of the state today. We started to see an increase in moisture potential late last week, and with ample moisture potential in place now, we are going to see active skies. 

A small low-pressure system, called a mesoscale convective vortex, is on the move today and is pushing from Southern Utah to Northern Utah. This disturbance, which is essentially a cluster of storms, will actually allow for wet weather and storms a lot earlier than we normally see storms along the Wasatch Front during a monsoon push. Expectations for today should include unsettled conditions, heavy downpours with developing storms, gusty winds and lightning. We will also see temperatures running below average with cloud cover and wet weather. You can expect low to mid 80s along the Wasatch Front, mid 70s to low 80s throughout central Utah and only mid to upper 80s in Washington County. 

With the expectation of heavy rain, our flash flood potential is “probable” for our National Parks and surrounding areas where flash flooding is monitored. This includes Red Cliffs in Washington County, Grand Staircase, Natural Bridges, Grand Gulch and all our National Parks. The San Rafael Swell has a flash flood risk Tuesday of “possible.” 

Drier air starts to push back into Southern Utah by the midweek, and that will push further north into Thursday. A drying trend will set up heading into the close of the work week and into the weekend. Lingering moisture will allow for an isolated storm through Friday along the Wasatch Front, but a sharp decline in active skies should be expected.

We’ll keep you posted on the latest updates in our 4Warn Weather forecast both on-air and online, we are Good4Utah!

• Nocturnal storms/shower
• Widespread Tuesdasy storms/showers
• Storms push from south to north through the day
• Increased flash flood threat in the south
• Excessive rainfall chance along the Wasatch Front & in N. Utah
• Below average temps
• Drying in the south wed/ slowly drying in the north