Heavy Snow in Utah, January 18, 2002

Name: Heavy Snow in Utah, January 18, 2002
Start: 2002-01-18T06:00
End: 2002-01-18T17:00
Location: Utah

January 18, 2002 · NWS SLC · 5 events in 5 counties and zones

Another storm brought good amounts of snow to Northern Utah, with 8-20 inches in the Wasatch Mountains and 2-8 inches along the Wasatch Front.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 5

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 happened

The episode as NWS SLC wrote it up.

Another storm brought good amounts of snow to Northern Utah, with 8-20 inches in the Wasatch Mountains and 2-8 inches along the Wasatch Front.

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 Jan 18, 3:55 AM MST, 2 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 18, 3:55 AM MST, 2 hours 5 minutes before

UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT
355 AM MST FRI JAN 18 2002

.SYNOPSIS...A COLD STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE THROUGH THE FORECAST AREA
TODAY.  HIGH PRESSURE WILL BRIEFLY SETTLE IN EARLY SATURDAY BEFORE
ANOTHER STORM SYSTEM PUSHES IN SATURDAY NIGHT.

.DISCUSSION...SATELLITE IMAGERY DEPICTS UPPER LEVEL LOW OVER CENTRAL
IDAHO DROPPING SOUTH.  SNOW SPREADING ALONG THE IDAHO BORDER THIS
MORNING.  MODELS PROG THIS COLD SYSTEM TO MOVE THROUGH NORTHERN UTAH
TODAY.  GOOD VORT MAX WITH LITTLE JET SUPPORT WILL TRANSLATE INTO
OVERALL LIGHT SNOW AMOUNTS.  HOWEVER...INSTABILITY WILL ALLOW FOR
GOOD OROGRAPHIC COMPONENT ALONG THE WASATCH FRONT.  THEREFORE...WILL
ISSUE AND KEEP ADVISORIES ALONG WASATCH FRONT FOR TODAY. THE SOUTHERN
EXTENT OF THIS STORM WILL REACH THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS.  A FEW SHOWERS
ARE POSSIBLE LATER TODAY IN THE SOUTHWESTERN VALLEYS WITH THE TROF
PASSAGE.  IT IS JUST NOT THAT UNSTABLE FARTHER SOUTH AND LITTLE IN
THE WAY OF A FAVORABLE JET.

AIR MASS STABILIZES QUICKLY LATER TODAY AND THIS EVENING. THUS...DO
NOT THINK THE ADVISORIES ARE NEEDED PAST THE DAYTIME PERIOD.  SKIES
SHOULD CLEAR THIS EVENING AND REMAIN RELATIVELY CLOUD FREE THE
REMAINDER OF THE NIGHT.  COMBINED WITH A COLD AIR MASS IN PLACE...THE
TEMPERATURES ARE ANTICIPATED TO PLUMMET.

THE NEXT TROF EXPECTED FOR SATURDAY NIGHT A LITTLE FASTER THAN
PREVIOUS RUNS.  DO NOT EXPECT THIS WILL RESULT IN MUCH PRECIP DURING
THE DAYTIME HOURS SATURDAY.  THE COLD POCKET IS NOT DUE TO ARRIVE
UNTIL THE EVENING.  INSTABILITY REMAINS THROUGH MUCH OF THE NIGHT FOR
CONTINUED SNOW SHOWERS INTO THE MORNING HOURS ON SUNDAY.  THIS STORM
ALSO LOOKS TO BE A MAINLY NORTHERN STORM.

NORTHWEST FLOW WITH DIRTY RIDGE ALONG THE WEST COAST FOR SUNDAY AS
THE SATURDAY SYSTEM MOVES OUT OF THE AREA.   SOME SHOWERS MAY LINGER
IN THE MOUNTAINS ALL DAY.  BY MONDAY...SHORT WAVE RIDGE TRANSLATES
ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA AS THE NEXT GULF OF ALASKA STORM MAKES ITS
WAY ONTO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST COAST.  SOME POSSIBLE OVERRUNNING
PRECIP NEAR THE IDAHO BORDER MONDAY.  THIS WILL ALSO BE THE WARMEST
DAY OF THE NEXT 7.

THE STORM IS EXPECTED TO DEEPEN OVER THE WEST WITH A HINT OF
SPLITTING AT THIS TIME.  STILL THINK THE STORM WILL BE COLD WITH AN
ACTUAL COLD FRONT...VORT MAX AND STRONG JET BY WEDNESDAY MORNING.
RIDGE BUILDS BRIEFLY FOR THURSDAY AND FRIDAY.

SLC 722  CDC 220  NELSON

.SLC...SNOW ADVISORY THROUGH TODAY FOR MUCH OF NRN UTAH/EXTREME SERN
ID...IDZ025...UTZ07>010...UTZ002-004...SEE SLCWSWSLC FOR DETAILS.

Event by event

5 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Northern Wasatch Front/Brigham City/Ogden Bountiful

When: January 18, 6:00 AM MST to 5:00 PM MST
Where: Northern Wasatch Front/Brigham City/Ogden Bountiful forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

Heavy Snow, Wasatch Mountains I80 North

When: January 18, 6:00 AM MST to 5:00 PM MST
Where: Wasatch Mountains I80 North forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

Heavy Snow, Salt Lake and Toole Valleys

When: January 18, 6:00 AM MST to 5:00 PM MST
Where: Salt Lake and Toole Valleys forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

Heavy Snow, Wasatch Mountains South of I80

When: January 18, 6:00 AM MST to 5:00 PM MST
Where: Wasatch Mountains South of I80 forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

Heavy Snow, Southern Wasatch Front/Lehi/Provo/Nephi

When: January 18, 6:00 AM MST to 5:00 PM MST
Where: Southern Wasatch Front/Lehi/Provo/Nephi forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Utah in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Utah, January 2002

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: 5324159, 5324160, 5324161, 5324162, 5324213.