Meteorological Summer was hot, dry and made the record book— Here’s why

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Happy September, Utah! We are now into Meteorological Fall, and we’ve started September warm and dry. While Meteorological summer (June 1 – August 31) has come to an end, we look back at the conditions we saw during our primary summer months.

In summary, our average temperature in Salt Lake City was warmer than the 30-year climate norm, our precipitation was lacking and we had the third longest dry streak in Salt Lake with 48 days without measurable moisture.

Each summer, Salt Lake City averages eight triple digit days and this year, we only had seven. We haven’t seen below average triple digit days since 2018, so it’s noteworthy that the heat wasn’t as intense.

Temperature

This Summer was much cooler than last Summer, but still above average by a few degrees. Salt Lake City’s average daytime high temperature was 91.8 degrees, about 2 degrees above average. The overall average temperature (accounting for overnight lows) was 79.2 degrees, making this 8^th warmest Summer on record. The thermometer’s mercury peaked on June 14^th when we hit 104 degrees, which is sweltering by northern Utah standards, but not quite record-territory. Salt Lake City managed to reach triple-digits seven times this Summer, which is pretty par.

Of course, St. George ran quite a bit hotter. St. George’s average daytime high was a toasty 101.2 degrees which puts it just over a degree above average. Their overall average temperature was 85.2 degrees, but that’s pretty standard for St. George. The hottest day recorded in St. George was on July 15^th with a high of 110 degrees. St. George reached triple-digit temperatures 60 times this meteorological Summer (June-August) and 65 times so far this year as a whole. Generally, they see about 55 days with 100+ degree weather throughout the year.

Precipitation

We lacked in the precipitation department this Summer, and if it weren’t for the monster monsoon push in the last week of August, we would’ve been in much worse shape. Salt Lake City totaled 1.10 inches of rain, but well over half of that rain fell on August 27^th alone. The last week of meteorological Summer was our saving grace; without it we would’ve ended the season with a sad 0.35 inches. We only had three days with significant rain measuring over one-tenth of an inch – June 22^nd (0.16″), the 4^th of July (also 0.16″), and August 27^th (0.64″). St. George also only had three days of precipitation over one-tenth of an inch – June 5^th (0.17″), August 25^th (0.18″), and August 28^th (0.15″). Overall, they had a total of 0.66 inches, about half of normal.

Salt Lake City had a whopping 48 days in a row with no measurable precipitation between the 4^th of July and August 21^st, which makes it the 3^rd longest dry streak we’ve seen in a meteorological Summer. The dry spell came to a close on the 22^nd when we got only one-hundredth of an inch.

The rain on August 27^th brought some serious issues to northern Utah, we went from a prolonged dry streak along to flooding in the Ogden Valley. The 27^th brought more precipitation in one day to the Ogden Valley than they usually get all Summer, some places got double the season average in a single day. Ogden itself got 1.88 inches on the 27^th, but that’s far from the most rainfall, let’s take a look at some of the best performers of the valley. Farr West received 2.48 inches, Plain City got 2.70 inches, North Ogden a whopping 2.92 inches, and Harrisville saw a ridiculous 4.46 inches! This caused minor flooding across the area. 

Aug. 27 also was responsible for a mudslide in Provo late that night. The Buckley Draw Fire had been scorching the hillside in the days leading up to the torrential rain, and the burn scar’s loose soil couldn’t hold together. Several feet of mud and debris was pushed into a church building, but fortunately not much damage was reported outside of that and the community quickly banned together to clean it up.

Fires

Provo’s Buckley Draw Fire grew to 424 acres before the mudslide, but it was nowhere near the largest wildfire this Summer. The first major wildfire was the France Canyon Fire, discovered just south of Bryce Canyon City on June 11^th with 34,943 acres burnt.

The following week the notorious Forsyth Fire in Washington County started, prompting hundreds of evacuations and destroying over a dozen homes in the Pine Valley area, it grew to 15,662 acres before containment.

The next significant wildfire was the Deer Creek Fire near Moab, beginning July 10^th and scorching 17,724 acres. The Deer Creek Fire produced a rare and interesting weather phenomenon, a huge fire tornado with an EF-2 rating (out of 0 to 5) spun up, luckily no one was seriously injured as evacuations rendered the area clear.

Just three days later the Monroe Canyon Fire sparked, which became the largest wildfire of 2025 at a whopping 73,721 acres, placing it in the top ten largest Utah fires of all time. The Beulah wildfire was the largest wildfire in northern Utah this year, burning 5,719 acres of the Uinta Mountains since its discovery on the 8^th of August. The Willard Peak Fire gave some residents of North Ogden a scare, it only reached 577 acres, but its proximity to homes was dangerously close and prompted evacuations.

We are now in meteorological Autumn, but the astronomical first day of Autumn, or the Fall Equinox, isn’t until the 22^nd of September. We can’t wait to see what the Fall of 2025 has in store!