1 dense fog, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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 8, 4:25 AM MST, 35 minutes earlier.
UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 425 AM MST WED JAN 8 2003 .SYNOPSIS...HIGH PRESSURE WILL OVER THE AREA WILL GRADUALLY WEAKEN THROUGH THURSDAY. A WEAK PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM WILL AFFECT THE FORECAST AREA FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. .DISCUSSION...WEAK UPPER LOW STARTING TO MAKE ITS RETURN INTO THE WEST AND IS SPREADING CLOUDS AND RAIN INTO AZ AND THE LOWER COLORADO RIVER VALLEY. THIS WILL SPREAD SLOWLY TOWARDS SOUTHWEST UT TODAY AS HIGH OVER THE STATE WEAKENS AND COULD SPREAD A LITTLE PRECIP INTO THE FAR SOUTHERN ZONES TONIGHT. LATEST GFS SPREADS THE MOISTURE INTO MUCH OF THE STATE BY THU AFTERNOON AND HAVE INCLUDED LOW POPS FOR ABOUT THE SOUTHWEST 1/3. MODEL KEEPS THE CLOSED LOW NOW APPROACHING 130W MORE CONSOLIDATED AS IT MOVES THROUGH THE RIDGE AND BRINGS FAIRLY WIDESPREAD PRECIP TO THE AREA THU NIGHT THRU FRI. FOR NOW...CHANCE POPS OVER THE FORECAST AREA ARE OK AS MODELS ARE LIKELY NOT HANDLING THE EVOLUTION OF THESE FEATURES QUITE RIGHT. NORTHERN VALLEY INVERSIONS WILL REMAIN STRONG THRU TONIGHT THEN WEAKEN THU AS CLOUDS INCREASE AND AIRMASS COOLS ALOFT. AT THIS TIME...THIS LOW APPEARS STRONG ENOUGH TO MIX OUT MOST OF THE VALLEYS AND POSSIBLY EVEN THE UINTA BASIN...SO WILL REMOVE MENTION OF FOG FROM FORECASTS THU NIGHT ONWARD. MOIST NORTHWEST FLOW PERSISTS INTO SAT AS LOWS MOVES OUT OF THE AREA WITH FLAT RIDGING RETURNING FOR SUN AND MON. GFS ADVERTISES THIS RIDGE TO BE DIRTY AND WILL KEEP CLOUDS OVER THE NORTH BUT WILL NOT INCLUDE PRECIP AT THIS TIME. NEXT SHORT WAVE FORECAST THRU THE RIDGE WILL BE IN THE TUE/WED TIME FRAME. SLC 000 CDC 112 WILENSKY .SLC...NONE.
IDZ024-025-UTZ001>021-WYZ021-081400- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 700 AM MST TUE JAN 7 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE WESTERN TWO-THIRDS OF UTAH...EXTREME SOUTHEAST IDAHO AND EXTREME SOUTHWEST WYOMING .DAY ONE... TODAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. WCJIN-WYSW
IDZ024-025-UTZ001>021-WYZ021-080640- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 1135 PM MST TUE JAN 7 2003 ...TEST...TEST...TEST...
1 dense fog. Local standard time, as filed.
Dense fog formed along the Great Salt Lake during the morning commute, causing a 59 car pileup between the Salt Lake International Airport and Saltair. Amazingly, there were no fatalities, but 14 people were injured and taken to local hospitals.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, January 2003
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: 5327876.