A cold Canadian trough moved from north to south across eastern Utah. The system brought heavy snows to areas that aren't accustomed to seeing heavy snow at the end of April.
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 episode as NWS SLC wrote it up.
A cold Canadian trough moved from north to south across eastern Utah. The system brought heavy snows to areas that aren't accustomed to seeing heavy snow at the end of April. Some of the larger snow totals include: 20 inches at Dills Camp and Indian Canyon, 17 inches at Farmington Canyon, Alta Lifts 16.5, 16 inches at Timpanogos, 15 at Seeley Creek, 14 inches at Black Flat, 13 at Donkey Reservoir, 12 inches at Brian Head, 12 inches at Snowbird, 11 inches at Kolob, 11 inches at Silver Lake Brighton, 10 inches at Emery, 6 inches at Clear Creek Canyon, and 6 inches at Castle Dale.
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 Apr 20, 8:00 PM MST, 0 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 900 PM MDT TUE APR 20 2004 .SYNOPSIS...A COOL AND UNSETTLED PERIOD WILL PERSIST THROUGH THURSDAY AS A SERIES OF PACIFIC WEATHER SYSTEMS MOVE THROUGH THE AREA. WARMER AND DRIER CONDITIONS WILL RETURN FOR THE WEEKEND. && .DISCUSSION...UPPER LOW SPINNING OFF WASHINGTON COASTLINE WITH STRONG UPPER JET NOW NOSING INTO NORTHERN NEVADA. PLENTY OF MOISTURE AND CONTINUED UNSTABLE AIRMASS RESULTING IN SCATTERED SHOWERS ACROSS NORTHERN UTAH THIS EVENING. RADAR SHOWING PRECIPITATION FILLING IN ACROSS THE WESTERN DESERTS. PARTLY CLOUDY AND DRY CONDITIONS ACROSS THE SOUTH TONIGHT. THIS UPPER LEVEL PATTERN TO CONTINUE ACROSS THE CWA FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS SO NOT LOOKING FOR ALOT OF CHANGE OVERALL. OROGRAPHICALLY FAVORED AREAS SUCH AS THE WASATCH MOUNTAINS AND WASATCH FRONT SHOULD DO QUITE WELL WITH ETA QPF SHOWING FROM .25 TO .50 INCHES BY NOON TOMORROW. FORECAST SNOWFALL AMOUNTS MAY BE ON THE LOW SIDE FOR THE WASATCH MOUNTAIN AREAS LATE TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...NONE. ID...NONE. WY...NONE. && BRENCHLEY
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTED TO ADD UT ZONE 21 NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 731 AM MDT TUE APR 20 2004 IDZ024-025-UTZ001>011-WYZ021-211200- CACHE VALLEY/IDAHO PORTION-CACHE VALLEY/UTAH PORTION- GREAT SALT LAKE DESERT AND MOUNTAINS-NORTHERN WASATCH FRONT- SALT LAKE AND TOOELE VALLEYS-SOUTHERN WASATCH FRONT- SOUTHWEST WYOMING-WASATCH MOUNTAIN VALLEYS-WASATCH MOUNTAINS I- 80 NORTH-WASATCH MOUNTAINS SOUTH OF I-80- WASATCH MOUNTAINS/IDAHO PORTION-WASATCH PLATEAU/BOOK CLIFFS- WESTERN UINTA BASIN-WESTERN UINTA MOUNTAINS- 731 AM MDT TUE APR 20 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHERN 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 A SERIES OF COOL AND MOIST STORM SYSTEMS WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. THE STRONGEST OF THESE STORMS WILL ARRIVE LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT...AND AFFECT THE REGION THROUGH THURSDAY. HEAVY SNOW IS POSSIBLE IN THE MOUNTAINS. SNOW COULD REACH THE VALLEYS OF NORTHERN UTAH THURSDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. UTZ012>021-211200- CASTLE COUNTRY-CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS- GLEN CANYON RECREATION AREA/LAKE POWELL-HENRY MOUNTAINS- SAN RAFAEL SWELL-SANPETE/SEVIER VALLEYS-SOUTH CENTRAL UTAH- SOUTHWEST UTAH-UTAHS DIXIE AND ZION NATIONAL PARK-WEST CENTRAL UTAH- 731 AM MDT TUE APR 20 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHERN UTAH .DAY ONE... TODAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY A COLD PACIFIC STORM WILL MOVE SOUTHEAST INTO SOUTHERN UTAH THURSDAY. LOCALLY HEAVY SNOWS ARE POSSIBLE IN THE HIGH COUNTRY OF CENTRAL UTAH. SCATTERED RAIN AND HIGHER VALLEYS SNOW SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED ELSEWHERE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
5 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, April 2004
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: 5420455, 5420456, 5420457, 5420458, 5420459.