4 heavy snow, 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 Dec 17, 4:05 AM MST, 1 hour 55 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 405 AM MST SAT DEC 17 2005 .SYNOPSIS...AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH SAGGING SOUTH OUT OF MONTANA WILL STALL OVER SOUTHERN IDAHO TODAY. A WARM FRONT MOVING EAST OFF OF THE PACIFIC WILL SWEEP ACROSS NORTHERN UTAH ON SUNDAY. HIGH PRESSURE WILL RETURN TO THE REGION EARLY IN THE COMING WEEK. && .DISCUSSION...THE E-W TROUGH AXIS SAGGING SOUTH OUT OF MONTANA WILL DRIFT SOUTH INTO WY AND SRN ID...WITH THE ASSOCIATED BAROCLINIC ZONE SETTLING IN OVER NRN UT THIS MORNING. LATEST GUIDANCE STILL HOLDS ON TO THE IDEA THAT A WEAK NEAR 700MB CIRCULATION CENTER WILL FORM OVER SE ID EARLY THIS MORNING. DEVELOPMENT OF THIS FEATURE WILL LEAD TO INCREASING LOW-LEVEL WARM ADVECTION ACROSS EXTREME NRN UT/SW WY. THERMALLY DRIVEN LIFT SHOULD GENERATE AN AREA OF STEADY...THOUGH GENERALLY LIGHT SNOW FOR OUR FAR NRN ZONES TODAY. THE WESTERLIES UNDERCUTTING THE WEST COAST STATES RIDGE WILL BE A PLAYER FOR UTAH FOR SUNDAY/EARLY MONDAY. SOLID LOW-LEVEL WARM ADVECTION BEGINNING AGAIN DURING THE DAY SUNDAY SHOULD HAVE ENOUGH MOISTURE TO GENERATE SOME LIGHT PRECIP FOR THE NRN MOUNTAINS. THE THREAT OF PRECIP SHOULD INCREASE A BIT SUNDAY NIGHT/EARLY MONDAY AS THE THERMALLY DRIVEN LIFT GETS A BOOST FROM A WEAK SHORTWAVE MOVING THROUGH NRN/CNTRL UT. STRONG RIDGING BEHIND THE EARLY MONDAY SHORTWAVE SHOULD BRING AN END TO MOST IF NOT ALL PRECIP BY LATE MONDAY. EMBEDDED SHORTWAVES IN THE NW FLOW OVER UT COULD BRING SOME LIGHT PRECIP TO THE NORTH LATE MONDAY AND TUESDAY...BUT NOTHING OF ANY CONSEQUENCE IS EXPECTED. THE RIDGE SHOULD SETTLE SQUARELY OVER UTAH FOR THE MIDDLE THROUGH LATTER PORTION OF THE COMING WEEK. FOG AND URBAN HAZE BUILDUPS ARE EXPECTED UP NORTH...WITH A WARMING TREND FOR THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS AND SOME SRN VALLEYS. BITTERLY COLD TEMPERATURES ARE NOT EXPECTED IN THE NRN VALLEYS...THOUGH READINGS MAY STRUGGLE TO REACH SEASONAL NORMS IN THE EXTENDED PERIOD. && .AVIATION...CEILINGS AROUND 9000 FEET HAVE MOVED INTO THE KSLC AREA. CEILINGS WILL CONTINUE TO DROP AS A BAND OF LIGHT SNOW SHOWERS/SNOW FLURRIES MOVE OVER THE AREA...DROPPING TO 6000 FEET BY 12Z AND REMAINING AT OR BELOW 6000 FEET THROUGH 00Z. VFR CONDITIONS SHOULD PERSIST THOUGH THROUGHOUT THE DAY. KSLC AREA MAY FALL OCCASIONALLY INTO MVFR CONDITIONS IN LIGHT SNOW SHOWERS. CEILINGS ARE EXPECTED INCREASE TO 7000 FEET OR ABOVE AFTER 00Z. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...NONE. WY...NONE. && PUBLIC...CONGER AVIATION...HALL
4 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
39" storm total (18" in 24hrs on the 19th) at Ben Lomund Peak
33" storm total (18" in 24 hrs 19-20th) Snowbasin
17" total in Liberty (9" in 12 hrs on the 19th)
12" total Wasatch Plateau
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2005Every state in 2005This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, December 2005
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: 5483704, 5483705, 5483706, 5483707.