A warm moisture-laden system dumped heavy mountain snow and lower elevation rains across most of Utah. 90).
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 warm moisture-laden system dumped heavy mountain snow and lower elevation rains across most of Utah. Some heavier snowfall (liquid water equivalents) were, Brighton Crest 33 (2.61), Snowbasin 24 (2.60), Sundance 23 (2.05), Solitude 20 (1.44), The Canyons 14 (1.14) and Brianhead 14 (0.90).
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 Feb 17, 9:00 PM MST, 3 hours 1 minute earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 900 PM MST THU FEB 17 2005 .SYNOPSIS...AN UPPER LOW OFF THE CALIFORNIA COAST WILL SEND A SERIES OF WEATHER DISTURBANCES NORTHEAST INTO UTAH FRIDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. A MOIST SOUTHWEST FLOW WILL CONTINUE SUNDAY AND INTO NEXT WEEK. && .DISCUSSION...UPPER LOW CURRENTLY OFF THE CA COAST NEAR 130W STILL PROGGED TO DRIFT A BIT TO THE EAST AND NORTH OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. THIS LOW PROBABLY WONT MOVE ON SHORE BEFORE IT DISSIPATES LATE SATURDAY. IT THE INTERIM A NUMBER OF SHORTWAVES WILL ROTATE NE OUT OF THE LOW POSITION AND TROUGH THE GREAT BASIN LATE TONIGHT AND ON IN THROUGH SATURDAY. SOLID MOISTURE PLUMB WORKING NORTH THROUGH AZ/SRN NV THIS EVENING WITH PRECIP ABOUT AS FAR NORTH AS A FLG-LAS LINE. AN ILL-DEFINED VORTICITY MAX EMBEDDED IN THIS MOISTURE PLUMB WILL SPREAD THE FIRST ROUND OF PRECIP INTO THE EXTREME SRN ZONES LATE TONIGHT. SUBSEQUENT DISTURBANCES WILL FOLLOW FOR FRIDAY THROUGH SATURDAY BRINGING ADDITIONAL PRECIP TO THE SOUTH...AND SPREADING PRECIP INTO THE NRN ZONES LATER IN THE DAY FRIDAY. DEEP LAYER MOISTURE...WEAK DYNAMICS AND OROGRAPHICS ALL IN PLAY FOR THE SRN MOUNTAINS NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. POTENTIAL FOR A FAIRLY LONG DURATION SNOW EVENT GOOD DOWN SOUTH...SO HEAVY SNOW WARNING WILL REMAIN IN PLACE AS ISSUED THIS AFTERNOON. LATER START TO PRECIP UP NORTH COMBINED WITH THE BEST DYNAMICS SCHEDULED FOR FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY JUSTIFIES KEEPING THE WATCH IN PLACE FOR NOW. LATEST GFS MODEL BASICALLY RELOADS THE PATTERN WITH A NEW UPPER LOW FORMING ALONG THE CA COAST BY MONDAY...THEN SLOWLY WORKING EAST TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY. THIS PATTERN COULD SIGNAL THE BEGINNING OF A LONG DURATION PRECIP EVENT WHICH COULD CONTINUE INTO FRIDAY. CURRENT FORECAST HAS MENTION OF PRECIP IN THE MOUNTAINS THROUGH THE WEEK. SUSPECT THIS EVENT WONT BE CONFINED TO THE MOUNTAINS...NOR BE CONFINED TO THE SOUTH. HAVENT SEEN THE 00Z GFS YET...SO WILL LEAVE THE CURRENT EXTENDED FORECAST AS WAS ISSUED EARLIER. && .AVIATION...TAF HANDLES ALL CONCERNS && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...WARNING AND WATCHES UTAH MOUNTAINS...SEE LATEST SLCWSWSLC. WY...NONE. ID...NONE. && CONGER
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 500 AM MST THU FEB 17 2005 IDZ024-025-UTZ001>012-014>017-WYZ021-181300- CACHE VALLEY/IDAHO PORTION-CACHE VALLEY/UTAH PORTION-CASTLE COUNTRY- CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS-GREAT SALT LAKE DESERT AND MOUNTAINS- NORTHERN WASATCH FRONT-SALT LAKE AND TOOELE VALLEYS- SANPETE/SEVIER VALLEYS-SOUTHERN WASATCH FRONT-SOUTHWEST UTAH- SOUTHWEST WYOMING-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- 500 AM MST THU FEB 17 2005 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... FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY UNSETTLED WEATHER WILL DEVELOP BY FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THIS WILL BRING PERIODS OF SNOW TO THE REGION. THE SNOW COULD BE HEAVY AT TIMES FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY. THE SNOW COULD MIX WITH RAIN IN THE LOWEST VALLEYS. SEE LATER FORECASTS FOR POSSIBLE WATCHES...ADVISORIES AND WARNINGS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER TO NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. UTZ013-018>021-181300- GLEN CANYON RECREATION AREA/LAKE POWELL-HENRY MOUNTAINS- SAN RAFAEL SWELL-SOUTH CENTRAL UTAH- UTAHS DIXIE AND ZION NATIONAL PARK- 500 AM MST THU FEB 17 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHERN UTAH AND THE EASTERN VALLEYS AND MOUNTAINS. .DAY ONE...TODAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY PERIODS OF RAIN AND SNOW EXPECTED TO DEVELOP EARLY FRIDAY MORNING AND CONTINUE AT TIMES THROUGH AT LEAST MONDAY. THE PRECIPITATION COULD BE HEAVY AT TIMES. SNOW LEVELS WILL BE NEAR 6000 FEET. SEE LATER FORECASTS FOR POSSIBLE WATCHES...ADVISORIES AND WARNINGS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER TO NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.
2 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
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, February 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: 5441481, 5441482.