A Pacific weather system brought another round of heavy snow to portions of northern and central 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 Pacific weather system brought another round of heavy snow to portions of northern and central Utah.
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 29, 3:58 PM MST, 2 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT
358 PM MST TUE JAN 29 2008
.SYNOPSIS...AN ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THIS
WEEKEND AS A SERIES OF STORMS MOVE THROUGH THE GREAT BASIN. THE
FIRST OF THESE STORMS IS ARRIVING THIS EVENING AND CONTINUING INTO
WEDNESDAY...WITH ANOTHER STORM ARRIVING THURSDAY EVENING.
&&
.DISCUSSION...CLOUD COVER AND PRECIPITATION IS BEGINNING TO INCREASE
OVER THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON DUE TO GOOD WARM ADVECTION AT THE 700
MB LEVEL. SNOW IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN IN MOST OF NORTHERN UTAH AND
SOUTHWEST WYOMING BY EARLY EVENING. THERE IS SOME CONCERN THAT
SNOW WILL NOT BEGIN IN THE NORTHERN PART OF THE SALT LAKE
VALLEY UNTIL AFTER MIDNIGHT DUE TO SHADOWING BY THE OQUIRRH
MOUNTAIN RANGE...WHICH IS TYPICAL IN SOUTHWEST FLOW.
THE BEST SHOT OF SNOW FOR THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE CWA IS EXPECTED
TO ARRIVE EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING WITH THE COLD FRONT. BOTH THE
NAM AND THE GFS STILL SHOW A BREAK IN THE HEAVY PRECIPITATION
BETWEEN 5AM MST AND 10AM MST...WHICH COULD LINE UP NICELY WITH THE
MORNING COMMUTE. BOTH THE MODELS AND CURRENT SATELLITE IMAGERY
SHOW A SECONDARY FEATURE BEHIND THE COLD FRONT...WHICH WOULD
IMPACT THE AREA WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. THE GFS IS A LITTLE STRONGER
WITH THIS FEATURE THAN THE NAM...BUT EITHER WAY...SNOW SHOWERS
SHOULD CONTINUE IN THE AREA THROUGH WEDNESDAY
AFTERNOON...PARTICULARLY ON THE HIGHER TERRAIN.
ONLY MINOR CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE TO WINTER WEATHER HEADLINES ON THIS
SHIFT. THE TIMING OF A FEW OF THE MOUNTAIN ZONES WERE TWEAKED BY AN
HOUR...AND THE SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW ADVISORY FOR THE WESTERN
UINTA BASIN...CASTLE COUNTRY...AND WEST CENTRAL UTAH WAS CHANGED
TO SIMPLY A SNOW ADVISORY...DUE TO LIGHTER PRE-FRONTAL WINDS.
THE SYSTEM FOR THURSDAY NIGHT INTO FRIDAY APPEARS TO BE VERY
SIMILAR TO TODAYS SYSTEM IN BOTH TIMING AND STRUCTURE. WARM
ADVECTION IS EXPECTED TO BRING INCREASED CLOUD COVER AND SHOWERS
INTO THE AREA LATE THURSDAY EVENING...FOLLOWED BY A COLD FRONT
ENTERING THE AREA FRIDAY MORNING. AFTER FRIDAYS SYSTEM...THERE IS
LITTLE CONFIDENCE IN THE TIMING OF SUBSEQUENT TROUGHS...AS THE GFS
AND EC DIVERGE GREATLY. HOWEVER...BOTH AGREE THAT THE PATTERN WILL
REMAIN VERY ACTIVE THROUGH THE WEEKEND. PRIMARILY THE EC WAS USED
FOR THE EXTENDED FORECAST...WITH THE CURRENT TIMING FOR THE
HEAVIEST PRECIPITATION FORECAST TO BE SATURDAY NIGHT INTO
SUNDAY...AND THEN ANOTHER COLD TROUGH ON MONDAY.
&&
.AVIATION...SOUTH WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO PREVAIL AT THE SLC TERMINAL
THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE DAY TODAY. CEILINGS HAVE DROPPED TO
NEAR 6000FT AGL AND WILL REMAIN AT OR BELOW THAT LEVEL FOR MOST OF
THE EVENING AND OVERNIGHT HOURS. THERE IS A 30 PERCENT CHANCE THAT
SNOW COULD DEVELOP AT THE SLC TERMINAL AS EARLY AS 00-01Z...BRINGING
OCCASIONAL IFR CONDITIONS TO THE TERMINAL. OTHERWISE...EXPECT SNOW
TO BEGIN AROUND 03-05Z AND INTENSIFY AS A COLD FRONT PUSHES ACROSS
THE AREA AROUND 08-10Z.
&&
.SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
UT...HEAVY SNOW WARNING UNTIL 4 PM WEDNESDAY FOR UTZ001-UTZ002-UTZ006.
WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL 4 PM WEDNESDAY FOR UTZ007-UTZ008-
UTZ009-UTZ010.
WINTER STORM WARNING FROM 6 PM TUESDAY TO 4 PM WEDNESDAY FOR
UTZ003-UTZ004-UTZ014-UTZ517.
SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW ADVISORY UNTIL 4 PM WEDNESDAY FOR UTZ005.
SNOW ADVISORY FROM 6 PM TUESDAY TO 4 PM WEDNESDAY FOR UTZ011-
UTZ012-UTZ015.
WY...SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW ADVISORY UNTIL 4 PM WEDNESDAY FOR WYZ021.
&&
PUBLIC...SCHOENING
AVIATION...CHENG
FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM NOAA/S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE VISIT...
HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/SALTLAKECITY (ALL LOWER CASE)HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 430 AM MST TUE JAN 29 2008 UTZ001>016-019>021-517-518-WYZ021-301300- CACHE VALLEY/UTAH PORTION-NORTHERN WASATCH FRONT- SALT LAKE AND TOOELE VALLEYS-SOUTHERN WASATCH FRONT- GREAT SALT LAKE DESERT AND MOUNTAINS-WASATCH MOUNTAIN VALLEYS- WASATCH MOUNTAINS I-80 NORTH-WASATCH MOUNTAINS SOUTH OF I-80- WESTERN UINTA MOUNTAINS-WASATCH PLATEAU/BOOK CLIFFS- WESTERN UINTA BASIN-CASTLE COUNTRY-SAN RAFAEL SWELL- SANPETE/SEVIER VALLEYS-WEST CENTRAL UTAH-SOUTHWEST UTAH- UTAHS DIXIE AND ZION NATIONAL PARK-SOUTH CENTRAL UTAH- GLEN CANYON RECREATION AREA/LAKE POWELL-CENTRAL MOUNTAINS- SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS-SOUTHWEST WYOMING- 430 AM MST TUE JAN 29 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE WESTERN TWO THIRDS OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING. .DAY ONE...THROUGH TONIGHT A WARM FRONT WILL DEVELOP SNOW ACROSS NORTHERN UTAH TODAY AND TONIGHT. THE ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT WILL BRING THE HEAVIEST SNOW AND GUSTY WIND OVERNIGHT...NORTH OF I-70. REFER TO WINTER WEATHER PRODUCTS FOR DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY COLD UNSTABLE AIR MASS WILL BRING SNOW SHOWERS ON WEDNESDAY... MAINLY IN THE HIGHER TERRAIN AND NORTHERN VALLEYS. AN ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN WILL PERSIST WITH ANOTHER STORM EXPECTED LATE THURSDAY INTO FRIDAY EVENING AND AGAIN LATE SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY. THESE STORMS WILL BRING SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL AND WIND ESPECIALLY IN THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF CENTRAL AND NORTHERN UTAH...AND POSSIBLY INTO SOUTHERN UTAH BY LATE IN THE PERIOD. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM NOAA/S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE VISIT... HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/SALTLAKECITY (ALL LOWER CASE) TARDY
7 winter storm, 2 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Ogden received 8 inches of snow and Layton received 7 inches, most of this falling in a 12-hour period.
The Ogden Valley got hit hard by the snowfall again, with Eden receiving 14 inches of new snow with this storm. Kimball Junction also received 12 inches of snow.
Snowbasin Mid-Bowl received 18 inches of snow for the event, 14 of which fell in the first 12 hours.
Alta UDOT had the highest reported snowfall in the state for this storm, with 29 inches of new snow. Similarly, Snowbird received 24 inches of total snowfall.
Six inches of new snow was measured on the Draper Bench, and snowfall impacted the morning commute.
The Mammoth Cottonwood SNOTEL indicated 12 inches of snow in a 12 hour period.
Payson received 7 inches of snow and Highland received 6 inches, with both of these accumulations occurring in a 12 hour period.
The Buck Flat SNOTEL indicated 12 inches of snowfall in 12 hours.
Mount Pleasant received 6 inches of snow in 12 hours.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, January 2008
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: 77170, 77171, 77172, 77173, 77175, 77174, 77176, 77178, 77177.