Red Flag Warning 2, NWS Salt Lake City, UT

945 
WWUS85 KSLC 160445
RFWSLC

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Salt Lake City UT
1045 PM MDT Fri May 15 2026

UTZ489-494-495-161945-
/O.CON.KSLC.FW.W.0002.260516T1700Z-260517T0300Z/
San Rafael Swell-Henry Mountains-Color Country West Desert-
1045 PM MDT Fri May 15 2026

...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM TO 9 PM MDT
SATURDAY FOR WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR FIRE WEATHER
ZONES 489, 494, AND 495...

* AFFECTED AREA...Fire Weather Zone 489 San Rafael Swell, Fire 
  Weather Zone 494 Henry Mountains and Fire Weather Zone 495 
  Color Country West Desert.

* WINDS...Southwest 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 35 mph.

* RELATIVE HUMIDITY...As low as 12 percent.

* IMPACTS...Critical fire weather conditions are expected. Any 
  new fire starts or existing fires may spread rapidly.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions
are either occurring now...or are imminent. A combination of
strong winds...low relative humidity...and warm temperatures can
contribute to extreme fire behavior.

&&

$$

UTZ497-498-161945-
/O.CON.KSLC.FW.W.0002.260516T1700Z-260518T0300Z/
Mojave Desert-Grand Staircase-
1045 PM MDT Fri May 15 2026

...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM SATURDAY TO 9 PM
MDT SUNDAY FOR WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR FIRE WEATHER
ZONES 497 AND 498...

* AFFECTED AREA...Fire Weather Zone 497 Mojave Desert and Fire 
  Weather Zone 498 Grand Staircase.

* WINDS...West 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 35 mph on Saturday 
  and up to 45 mph on Sunday.

* RELATIVE HUMIDITY...As low as 10 percent.

* IMPACTS...Critical fire weather conditions are expected. Any 
  new fire starts or existing fires may spread rapidly.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions
are either occurring now...or are imminent. A combination of
strong winds...low relative humidity...and warm temperatures can
contribute to extreme fire behavior.

&&

$$

For more information from the National Weather Service visit
http://weather.gov/saltlakecity

677 
WWUS85 KSLC 161729
RFWSLC

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Salt Lake City UT
1129 AM MDT Sat May 16 2026

UTZ489-494-495-170300-
/O.CON.KSLC.FW.W.0002.000000T0000Z-260517T0300Z/
San Rafael Swell-Henry Mountains-Color Country West Desert-
1129 AM MDT Sat May 16 2026

...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM MDT THIS EVENING
FOR WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONES 489,
494, AND 495...

* AFFECTED AREA...Fire Weather Zone 489 San Rafael Swell, Fire 
  Weather Zone 494 Henry Mountains and Fire Weather Zone 495 
  Color Country West Desert.

* WINDS...Southwest 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph.

* RELATIVE HUMIDITY...As low as 12 percent.

* IMPACTS...Critical fire weather conditions are expected. Any 
  new fire starts or existing fires may spread rapidly.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions
are either occurring now...or are imminent. A combination of
strong winds...low relative humidity...and warm temperatures can
contribute to extreme fire behavior.

&&

$$

UTZ497-498-171130-
/O.CON.KSLC.FW.W.0002.000000T0000Z-260518T0300Z/
Mojave Desert-Grand Staircase-
1129 AM MDT Sat May 16 2026

...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM MDT SUNDAY FOR
WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONES 497 AND
498...

* AFFECTED AREA...Fire Weather Zone 497 Mojave Desert and Fire 
  Weather Zone 498 Grand Staircase.

* WINDS...West 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 45 mph.

* RELATIVE HUMIDITY...As low as 10 percent.

* IMPACTS...Critical fire weather conditions are expected. Any 
  new fire starts or existing fires may spread rapidly.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions
are either occurring now...or are imminent. A combination of
strong winds...low relative humidity...and warm temperatures can
contribute to extreme fire behavior.

&&

$$

For more information from the National Weather Service visit
http://weather.gov/saltlakecity

612 
WWUS85 KSLC 170253
RFWSLC

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Salt Lake City UT
853 PM MDT Sat May 16 2026

UTZ489-494-495-170400-
/O.EXP.KSLC.FW.W.0002.000000T0000Z-260517T0300Z/
San Rafael Swell-Henry Mountains-Color Country West Desert-
853 PM MDT Sat May 16 2026

...RED FLAG WARNING WILL EXPIRE AT 9 PM MDT THIS EVENING FOR WIND
AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONES 489, 494, AND
495...

Humidities have already increased above 15% while winds continue 
to decrease tonight across portions of southwest and east-central 
Utah. With critical fire weather conditions diminishing, the Red 
Flag Warning will be allowed to expire. 

$$

UTZ497-498-171800-
/O.CON.KSLC.FW.W.0002.000000T0000Z-260518T0300Z/
Mojave Desert-Grand Staircase-
853 PM MDT Sat May 16 2026

...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM MDT SUNDAY FOR
WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONES 497 AND
498...

* AFFECTED AREA...Fire Weather Zone 497 Mojave Desert and Fire 
  Weather Zone 498 Grand Staircase.

* WINDS...West 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 45 mph. Winds will
  decrease overnight and increase again for Sunday afternoon.

* RELATIVE HUMIDITY...As low as 10 percent.

* IMPACTS...Critical fire weather conditions are expected. Any 
  new fire starts or existing fires may spread rapidly.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions
are either occurring now...or are imminent. A combination of
strong winds...low relative humidity...and warm temperatures can
contribute to extreme fire behavior.

&&

$$

For more information from the National Weather Service visit
http://weather.gov/saltlakecity

078 
WWUS85 KSLC 171704
RFWSLC

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Salt Lake City UT
1104 AM MDT Sun May 17 2026

UTZ497-498-180300-
/O.CON.KSLC.FW.W.0002.000000T0000Z-260518T0300Z/
Mojave Desert-Grand Staircase-
1104 AM MDT Sun May 17 2026

...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM MDT THIS EVENING
FOR WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONES 497 AND
498...

* AFFECTED AREA...Fire Weather Zone 497 Mojave Desert and Fire 
  Weather Zone 498 Grand Staircase.

* WINDS...West 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 45 mph. 

* RELATIVE HUMIDITY...As low as 10 percent.

* IMPACTS...Critical fire weather conditions are expected. Any 
  new fire starts or existing fires may spread rapidly.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions
are either occurring now...or are imminent. A combination of
strong winds...low relative humidity...and warm temperatures can
contribute to extreme fire behavior.

&&

$$

For more information from the National Weather Service visit
http://weather.gov/saltlakecity

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Salt Lake City UT
1011 PM MDT Thu May 14 2026

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Locally critical fire weather conditions may return to portions
  of southern Utah Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

- Temperatures will drop to around 10 to 20 degrees below normal
  Sunday into Monday as a cold storm system moves through the
  area. Accumulating snow is possible across the northern
  mountains and mountain valleys along with southwest Wyoming.

- Freeze conditions will impact many Utah valleys outside of the
  Wasatch Front Monday and Tuesday mornings, and even as early as
  Sunday morning in the Cache Valley and Wasatch Back. Some areas
  may see a hard freeze including the Cache Valley, Wasatch Back,
  west central and southwest Utah and the Sanpete Valley.

&&

.DISCUSSION...A near-zonal flow is in place over Utah this
evening, with mostly clear skies and mild temperatures
accompanying. Expect similar conditions for Friday, with perhaps
a bit more midlevel clouds across southern Utah. The pattern will
then shift for the weekend, with cooler and wetter conditions
expected.

This pattern shift will begin on Saturday with a shortwave trough
moving across the PacNW, while a weaker southern branch
disturbance approaches Utah and Arizona. Southwesterly winds will
increase across southern and eastern Utah by Saturday afternoon,
while a cold front crosses northern Utah. The winds across
southern Utah could bring localized critical fire weather
conditions. Near the cold front, showers are expected to develop,
mainly over and near the higher terrain. These will be largely
high-based and precipitation amounts are not expected to be
significant, as even at the 90th percentile, the NBM QPF largely
remains under 0.25 inches except over the high Uintas where it has
closer to 0.45 inches.

As the PacNW trough continues to dive into Utah on Sunday,
increasingly cooler air will spread into the area. High
temperatures in many valleys across northern Utah on Sunday and
across northern, central, and southwest Utah on Monday will likely
fail to reach 60F. This would be 15-20 degrees below
climatological normals. Additionally, precipitation will become
more widespread Sunday into early Monday morning. Precipitation
amounts from the NBM mean have been trending upward with the last
few model runs. However, there is still quite a bit of model
spread, especially across northeast Utah, southwest Wyoming, the
central Utah mountains and portions of the Wasatch Front. For
example, the 25th-75th percentile at SLC ranges from 0.07-0.84
inches. This model spread would affect snow fall amounts as snow
levels are expected to fall to near 6kft, bringing the potential
for snow to the mountains and some of the higher valleys. Snow
amounts of 6 inches or more will be most likely over the upper
Cottonwoods and the western Uintas, otherwise most other mountain
areas are currently expected to see 4 inches or less, with
generally 3 or less in higher northern valleys such as the Park
City area and across southwest Wyoming.

With the cooler air settling into the area, there will be the
potential for another round of freezing conditions, especially
across central through southwest Utah Sunday night/Monday morning
and Monday night/Tuesday morning. By Tuesday afternoon,
temperatures are expected to start trending upward again as drier
conditions spread back into the area. However, there remains a
fair amount of model spread, with cluster analysis of ensemble
members showing varying patterns including troughiness, ridging,
and near-zonal flow over the western CONUS by the middle of next
week.

&&

.AVIATION...KSLC...VFR conditions will prevail through the
period. Southeast drainage winds will persist overnight, with a
switch to northwest during the 15-16Z timeframe Friday. Northwest
winds will then continue throughout Friday afternoon and evening.

.REST OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING...VFR conditions will persist
through the TAF period. Winds will remain light and terrain driven
through mid-morning Friday. Northwest winds will develop by late
Friday morning across most northern TAF sites, while southwest winds
will be the rule Friday across southern Utah.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...Conditions will stay dry and become increasingly
mild through Saturday, with highs peaking at 5F above normal for
this time of year. Winds will pick up Saturday afternoon ahead of
the next approaching storm system, and these breezy winds could
combine with the dry conditions to produce locally critical fire
weather conditions. The storm system, quite unseasonably cold,
will cross the area Sunday into Monday. Temperatures are expected
to drop to up to 20F below seasonal normals by Monday morning.
Snow levels are forecast to drop to as low as 5000 feet by Monday
morning, with up to six inches of snow possible for the highest
elevations of the northern mountains. Accumulations look to be far
less over central and southern Utah. Drier conditions are then
expected to follow Tuesday behind the front, with generally dry
conditions persisting through next Thursday.

&&

.SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
UT...None.
WY...None.
&&

Cheng/Seaman

For more information from NOAA's National Weather Service visit...
http://weather.gov/saltlakecity