A strong Pacific storm system was once again able to tap tropical moisture from the Equatorial Pacific and deposit in on the southwest United States and portions of the Intermountain West. This system brought more record breaking amounts of wet mountain snow and valley rain to many areas of Utah.
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 strong Pacific storm system was once again able to tap tropical moisture from the Equatorial Pacific and deposit in on the southwest United States and portions of the Intermountain West. This system brought more record breaking amounts of wet mountain snow and valley rain to many areas of Utah. A strong subtropical jet stream helped lift and ring out the abundant moisture over the complex terrain of southwest and south-central Utah and portions of the higher terrain in the north. Some of the stronger wind gusts associated with the powerful jet stream included 65 mph in Tooele, 55 mph at Pinto Junction, 52 mph in Sandy, and 50 mph in Cedar City.Some of the incredible snow totals include 50 inches at Midway Valley near Cedar Breaks, 32 inches at Kolob-Zion National Park and Timp Divide, 31 at Solitude, Brighton Loop with 26, Bryce Canyon and Trial Lake 22, Snowbird 21, Brian Head, Thaynes Canyon, and Alta with 20, High Uintas 18, Deer Valley 17, Sundance 13, Jordanelle Dam Park City South, and Snowbasin with 12, Ben Lomond Peak and Monte Cristo 11, Strawberry Reservoir, Oquirrh Mtn, and Farmington Canyon 10, Long Valley Junction 9, Spruces Camp 7, Pinto Junction and Park City Downtown with 6, Boulder 5, Eden and Pine Valley 3.Heavy rain in the southwest valleys brought some street flooding to New Harmony, Enterprise, and Saint George. Some of the incredible water equivalent and rainfall totals included: 6.40 inches at Midway Valley near Cedar Breaks, Kolob-Zion National Park 4.20, Timp Divide 4.00, Solitude 3.22, Pine Valley 3.00, Snowbird 2.70, Alta 2.61, Bryce Canyon and Brighton Loop with 2.60, Thaynes Canyon 2.50, Pinto Junction 2.45, Brian Head 2.26, Pintura 2.25, Enterprise 2.18, New Harmony 1.95, Long Valley Junction 1.80, Deer Valley 1.61, High Uintas and Trial Lake 1.60, Ivins 1.50, Toquerville 1.40, Sundance 1.38, Ben Lomond Peak 1.30, Snowbasin 1.24, Strawberry Reservoir and Monte Cristo with 1.20, Saint George 1.13, Oquirrh Mtns 1.10, Pleasant Grove 1.07, Cedar City 1.03, and Farmington Canyon 1.00.
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 Dec 28, 10:00 AM MST, 5 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 1000 AM MST TUE DEC 28 2004 .SYNOPSIS...A LARGE UPPER LEVEL LOW NEAR THE CALIFORNIA COAST WILL MOVE ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN WEDNESDAY. A VERY MOIST AIRMASS AND A SERIES OF STORM IMPULSES ROTATING AROUND THE LOW AND WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT. && .DISCUSSION...CURRENT FORECAST PACKAGE IN PRETTY GOOD SHAPE. WE WILL ADJUST THE TIMING ON THE WATCH AND WARNING PRODUCTS TO BE A LITTLE FASTER IN THE NEXT UPDATE WHICH SHOULD BE OUT SHORTLY. BIG CLOSED LOW JUST OFF THE CA COAST STILL FORECAST TO EJECT FAIRLY RAPIDLY AS THE NEXT TROF DEEPENS OUT OF THE GULF OF ALASKA ALONG ABOUT 140W IN RESPONSE TO THE STRONG RIDGING NEAR THE ALEUTIANS. BOTH ETA AND GFS OPEN THE LOW INTO A SHORTWAVE. BUT THE GFS STILL PROBABLY BETTER THAN THE ETA IN KEEPING FAIRLY STRONG CYCLONIC CURVATURE WITH THE SYSTEM AS IT TRACKS OVER THE WESTERN GREAT BASIN THEN TOWARD WESTERN MT. HOWEVER THE GFS HAS BEEN A LITTLE WEAKER AND SOMEWHAT FURTHER NORTH WITH THIS FEATURE WITH EACH NEW RUN. BUT THAT DOESNT HAVE A GREAT EFFECT HERE UNTIL WEDNESDAY NIGHT OR THURSDAY. SEVERAL WELL DEFINED SHORTWAVES ROTATING AROUND THE LOW. THE FIRST...JUST CROSSING 130W...TRACK MOSTLY NORTH AT THE MID LEVELS. BUT A GOOD JET LEVEL SHORTWAVE IN PHASE WITH IT PUSHES THE LARGE DIFLUENT/DIVERGENT AREA CURRENTLY TO OUR WEST ACROSS THE WESTERN TWO-THIRDS OF THE AREA THIS EVENING. THAT WILL BE THE START OF THE SIGNIFICANT PRECIP. THEN THE MAIN SHORTWAVE...BASICALLY THE REMAINS OF THE CLOSED SYSTEM...MOVES ACROSS THE AREA WEDNESDAY. THE WIDESPREAD RAIN/SNOW TAPER OFF QUICKLY BEHIND THIS MAIN IMPULSE. HOWEVER THE AIRMASS REMAINS QUITE MOIST AND TERRAIN TRIGGERED SNOW WILL CONTINUE OVER THE MOUNTAINS THROUGH THE NIGHT. IT SHOULD TAPER OFF RAPIDLY THURSDAY AS A SHORTWAVE RIDGE MOVES ACROSS THE AREA. AGAIN THE GFS LOOKS MUCH BETTER THAN THE ETA WHICH KEEPS A VERY FLAT FLOW PATTERN. VERY UNCERTAIN ABOUT HOW STRONG THE SUBSEQUENT EVENTS WILL BE. WE STILL SOME SORT OF IMPULSE ACROSS THE AREA ABOUT LATE FRIDAY...OR POSSIBLY LATE SATURDAY IF THE ECMWF IS RIGHT...BUT WITH THE NEXT BIG TROF DEEPENING SOUTH OFF THE COAST THE DYNAMICS OVER OUR AREA GET WEAKER WITH EACH SUBSEQUENT RUN. THE EC THEN CONTINUES TO KEEP THE NEXT LOW ALONG THE COAST WHILE THE GFS BRINGS THE WHOLE TROF INLAND EARLY NEXT WEEK. WITH THE EC HAVING BEEN FAR SUPERIOR TO THE GFS ON THE TIMING AND HANDLING OF THE CURRENT SYSTEM...AND FREQUENTLY THIS FALL...ITS HARD TO BET AGAINST IT FOR THE NEXT TROF AS WELL. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...WINTER STORM WARNING AND WATCHES...SEE SLCWSWSLC FOR DETAILS. WY...NONE. ID...WINTER STORM WATCH...SEE SLCWSWSLC FOR DETAILS. && SANDERS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 200 PM MST TUE DEC 28 2004 IDZ024-025-UTZ001>021-WYZ021-291400- CACHE VALLEY/IDAHO PORTION-CACHE VALLEY/UTAH PORTION-CASTLE COUNTRY- CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS- GLEN CANYON RECREATION AREA/LAKE POWELL- GREAT SALT LAKE DESERT AND MOUNTAINS-HENRY MOUNTAINS- NORTHERN WASATCH FRONT-SALT LAKE AND TOOELE VALLEYS-SAN RAFAEL SWELL- SANPETE/SEVIER VALLEYS-SOUTH CENTRAL UTAH-SOUTHERN WASATCH FRONT- SOUTHWEST UTAH-SOUTHWEST WYOMING-UTAHS DIXIE AND ZION NATIONAL PARK- WASATCH MOUNTAIN VALLEYS-WASATCH MOUNTAINS I-80 NORTH- WASATCH MOUNTAINS SOUTH OF I-80-WASATCH MOUNTAINS/IDAHO PORTION- WASATCH PLATEAU/BOOK CLIFFS-WEST CENTRAL UTAH-WESTERN UINTA BASIN- WESTERN UINTA MOUNTAINS- 200 PM MST TUE DEC 28 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE WESTERN TWO-THIRDS OF UTAH...EXTREME SOUTHEAST IDAHO AND EXTREME SOUTHWEST WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TODAY SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS OF UTAH THIS AFTERNOON. SNOW WILL SPREAD TO THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN UTAH AND EXTREME SOUTHEAST IDAHO TONIGHT. SEE SLCWSWSLC FOR THE LATEST WINTER WEATHER STATEMENTS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY AN AREA OF RAIN WILL MOVE OVER THE VALLEYS OF SOUTHWEST UTAH WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS BY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. THIS WILL RESULT IN THE THREAT OF FLOODING IN THE LOWER ELEVATIONS OF SOUTHWESTERN UTAH. SEE SLCFFASLC FOR DETAILS. SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE OVER MOST OF THE MOUNTAINS OF UTAH AND THE MOUNTAINS OF SOUTHEAST IDAHO WEDNESDAY. AS SNOW LEVELS LOWER...ACCUMULATIONS ARE POSSIBLE IN SOME OF THE HIGHER VALLEY AREAS AS WELL. SNOWFALL WILL TAPER OFF SOMEWHAT FROM THE SOUTH DURING THE DAY THURSDAY BEFORE INCREASING AGAIN THURSDAY NIGHT. AS TEMPERATURES BECOME COLDER LATE THIS WEEK...SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED TO BECOME WIDESPREAD WITH SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS POSSIBLE IN THE VALLEYS AS WELL AS THE MOUNTAINS THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT. SEE SLCWSWSLC FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE.
6 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, December 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: 5431626, 5431627, 5431628, 5431629, 5431630, 5431631.