Name: Damaging Wind in Utah, May 26, 2001
Start: 2001-05-26T17:35
End: 2001-05-26T17:45
Location: Utah

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Salt Lake City, UT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 26, 2:10 PM MST, 3 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 26, 2:10 PM MST, 3 hours 25 minutes before

UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT
310 PM MDT SAT MAY 26 2001

SYNOPSIS...HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT OVER UTAH WILL DRIFT EAST OF THE
STATE LATE SUNDAY.  A WEAKENING PACIFIC TROUGH WILL CLIP UTAH LATE
MONDAY.

DISCUSSION...WIDESPREAD CONVECTION HAS FIRED UP ACROSS NE NV THROUGH
SW AND CNTRL ID THIS AFTERNOON.  MESOWEST DATA SHOWED A SURFACE LOW
S OF ENV WITH A TROUGH EXTENDED WEST INTO CNTRL NV.  THE STRONGEST
STORMS HAVE CONCENTRATED NORTH OF THIS BOUNDARY IN NE NV.

SUSPECT THAT WITH THE LOOSE ORGANIZATION OF THE CONVECTION THAT UPPER
DYNAMICS ARE ALSO IN PLAY HERE.  THE 12Z AVN DOES SHOW A SHORTWAVE
MOVING NE INTO THIS AREA OF STRONG CONVECTION.  THIS FEATURE IS
PROGGED TO DRIFT EAST ACROSS EXTREME NRN UT THIS EVENING.  THIS IS
A CONCERN IN THAT WITH THE DYNAMICS AND ADEQUATE MID-LEVEL MOISTURE
THERE WILL BE A FAIRLY BROAD AREAL COVERAGE OF THUNDERSTORMS FOR
THE EXTREME NRN ZONES THIS EVENING.  WILL TRY TO FINE TUNE THIS IDEA
IN THE ZONES TO BE ISSUED SHORTLY.

FEATURES CURRENTLY OVER THE ERN PACIFIC WILL BECOME A CONCERN
HEADING INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK.  IN THE INTERIM FOR SUNDAY RESIDUAL
MOISTURE FROM TONIGHT'S CONVECTION ALONG WITH ANY SUBTLE DYNAMIC
FEATURES SHOULD GENERATE AROUND ROUND OF CONVECTION AGAIN DURING THE
AFTERNOON.  DOWN SOUTH WE MAY SEE A BIT MORE MID-LEVEL MOISTURE
COMING UP FROM THE SOUTH...LEADING TO AT LEAST ISOLATED MOUNTAIN
CONVECTION.

THE PACIFIC SHORTWAVE THAT REACHES UTAH LATER MONDAY WILL BE
SOMEWHAT COMPLICATED BY THE CLOSED LOW CURRENTLY NEAR 32/129.  THE
SHORTWAVE...WHILE NOT PICKING UP THE LOW ENTIRELY...DOES PUSH IT
ENE ACROSS AZ/SRN UT MONDAY AFTERNOON.  BY MONDAY NIGHT THE
SHORTWAVE WILL RACE ACROSS NRN UT WITH FAIRLY IMPRESSIVE COLD
ADVECTION AROUND 700 MB INTO TUESDAY.  OTHER THAN A THREAT OF
CONVECTION WITH INITIAL SURGE OF COOLER AIR...DON'T SEE A GREAT
THREAT OF PRECIP BEYOND MONDAY NIGHT.  TEMPS WILL BE NOTICEABLY
COOLER TUESDAY...BUT THEN NOT TOO MUCH BELOW SEASONAL NORMALS.

THE 12Z RUN OF THE AVN HAS TAKEN A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE FROM THE 00Z
RUN OF THE MRF.  THE CHANGE INVOLVES THE TREATMENT OF THE MONDAY
SHORTWAVE...WHICH PREVIOUSLY WAS TO CLOSE OFF AND DROP SOUTH
THROUGH THE UPPER MIDWEST DURING THE LATTER HALF OF NEXT.  NOW...THE
MEDIUM RANGE GUIDANCE PREFERS TO DROP THIS FEATURE SOUTH ALONG THE
CONTINENTAL DIVIDE...CLIP NE UT LATE WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY.  INCLINED
AT THIS POINT TO FOLLOW A PERSISTENCE SOLUTION WHERE THE LOW WILL
SETTLE INTO THE GREAT LAKES/OHIO VALLEY REGION AS PER THE MRF
SOLUTION VERSUS THE SOMEWHAT RADICAL CHANGE ADVERTISED BY THE
LATEST AVN.

SLC 3223  CDC 0114  CONGER

.SLC...NONE.

The radar

The Salt Lake City radar (KMTX), 79 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:32 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Salt Lake

When: May 26, 5:35 PM MST to 5:45 PM MST
Where: Salt Lake County, Salt Lake City Intl
Measured: 68 kt (78 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.668, -111.924 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A gust front moved through the Salt Lake City International Airport with 78 mph (68 kts) gusts recorded at the centerfield sensor. The official gust at the airport from the ASOS sensor was just 54 mph (47 kts). Snapped power polls were reported in North Salt Lake, but no wind speed reports were received there.

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Utah in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Utah, May 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5275207.