Red Flag Warning 6, NWS Salt Lake City, UT

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Salt Lake City UT
329 AM MDT Wed Jun 10 2026

.KEY MESSAGES, Issued 954 PM MDT Tue Jun 9 2026...

- Gusty northwest winds develop areawide on Wednesday afternoon,
  strongest across northern and eastern Utah.

- Very dry conditions and gusty winds will result in a period of
  critical fire weather across portions of southeast and east-
  central Utah on Wednesday.

- Enhanced afternoon breezes and continued dry conditions may lead
  to periods of elevated to locally critical fire weather
  conditions Friday into the weekend.

&&

.DISCUSSION, Issued 954 PM MDT Tue Jun 9 2026...
A dry cold front continues to dig southward through
the region today, with gusty winds being observed this evening
along and ahead of the frontal boundary across southern Utah.
Winds will taper overnight areawide as the associated shortwave
ejects eastward.

Calmer winds will once again be short lived as a trailing
shortwave trough ejects off the back side of a parent cutoff low
digging into the Northern Plains on Wednesday, yielding strong
northwesterly flow across the region. As such, gusty northwesterly
winds develop areawide by late morning into the early afternoon,
with strongest gusts expected across east- central Utah and the
Uinta Basin and the West Desert. H7 winds across these areas peak
around 40-45 knots late Wednesday evening, with highest
probability for gusts to exceed 30 mph occurring late Wednesday
into early Thursday morning as as result. With very dry conditions
still in place across east-central and southeast Utah on
Wednesday, a period of critical fire weather conditions is
expected to develop once again. See the Fire Weather discussion
below for more datails. Winds quickly taper off across the region
through the remainder of Thursday morning.

For the remainder of the week, Utah and southwest Wyoming remain
wedged between longwave troughing over the Northern Plains and
Great Lakes region and a strong ridge off the Pacific Northwest
coast. This pattern will maintain a generally zonal flow through
the weekend, though weak embedded disturbances may bring elevated
afternoon winds Friday through Sunday, resulting in areas of
elevated to locally critical fire weather conditions given
continued critically low RH values.

Looking into early next week, the axis of the aforementioned ridge
gradually shifts eastward, yielding warming temperatures in
addition to continued dry conditions through the remainder of the
forecast period. Highs are expected to peak around mid-next week
around 5 degrees above seasonal averages.

&&

.AVIATION, Issued 954 PM MDT Tue Jun 9 2026...
KSLC, Issued 954 PM MDT Tue Jun 9 2026...
VFR conditions under predominantly clear skies
are expected over the KSLC terminal through the valid forecast
period. Northerly flow will remain in place over the airfield
through early Wednesday morning before winds become light out of the
south after 09-10Z. There is around a 15% chance that winds remain
north through the overnight period, and around a 30-40% chance that
light and variable flow of 5 knots or less occurs after 09Z. North
winds resume mid-morning on Wednesday.

.REST OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING...VFR conditions under
predominantly clear skies will prevail across all terminals through
the overnight period, with existing cloud cover decrease after
sunset. Gusty southwest winds will prevail across southern Utah
through around 08Z before weakening, with drainage winds prevailing
after 09-10Z. Breezy westerly winds are expected to resume mid-
morning tomorrow across a majority of the area, with peak gusts
expected to be between 25-30 kts, especially in southwest Wyoming
and the Uinta Basin.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...A trough responsible for the passage of a cold frontal
boundary across much of the area will begin to shift east of the
region. As the front washes out, winds will gradually favor a west
to northwest component, to at times more terrain driven
especially overnight. For Wednesday, winds will remain
sufficiently gusty across southern and eastern Utah to bring areas
of critical fire weather conditions given continued daytime
humidity values in the low teens to single digits. Wind magnitudes
and gusts will decrease further as the trough shifts further
east, resulting in fire weather conditions becoming more elevated
to at times locally critical where winds do become more gusty into
the weekend. Humidity values will remain low with little to no
precipitation chances noted. Models show potential for another
largely dry and grazing type front slipping into the area in the
Sunday to Monday time frame. If this materializes, anticipate
winds and gusts to increase ahead of it, though confidence is low
at this time.

&&

.SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
UT...Red Flag Warning until 10 PM MDT this evening for UTZ484-489-493-
     494-496-498.

WY...None.
&&

PUBLIC...Whitlam
AVIATION...Webber
FIRE WEATHER...Warthen

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