A strong cold front moved through Utah beginning on April 30th. Ahead of this front there were isolated strong winds in southwest Utah, but most of the moisture was limited to northern 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 cold front moved through Utah beginning on April 30th. Ahead of this front there were isolated strong winds in southwest Utah, but most of the moisture was limited to northern Utah. Note that this episode began in April.
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 30, 8:10 PM MST, 3 hours 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT
910 PM MDT WED APR 30 2008
.SYNOPSIS...A COLD UPPER LOW WILL SLOWLY CROSS NORTHERN UTAH
TONIGHT THEN MOVE EAST THURSDAY. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BRIEFLY
RETURN TO THE AREA FRIDAY...FOLLOWED BY A SERIES OF WEAKER
DISTURBANCES OVER THE WEEKEND.
&&
.DISCUSSION...HAVE EXTENDED THE SOUTHERN UTAH WIND HEADLINES
THROUGH 11 PM. ALLOWS THE WESTERN UINTA BASIN HEADLINE TO EXPIRE.
THE COLD FRONT IS APPROACHING THE ARIZONA BORDER. NEW NAM12 HAS
DECREASED PRECIPITATION. SOME LAKE ENHANCEMENT LIKELY THROUGH
THURSDAY MORNING WITH THE DEEP INSTABILITY. FURTHER UPDATES ARE
POSSIBLE THIS EVENING AS WINDS SLOWLY DECREASE.
&&
.AVIATION...SNOW SHOWERS ARE POSSIBLE IN THE VICINITY OF THE KSLC
TERMINAL THROUGHOUT THE NIGHTTIME HOURS. THERE IS A 30 PERCENT
CHANCE OF IFR CONDITIONS IN ANY SHOWER THAT AFFECT THE TERMINAL
THROUGH 12Z. WINDS WILL REMAIN OUT OF THE NORTH THROUGHOUT THE
EVENING INTO THE NIGHT TIME HOURS.
&&
.FIRE WEATHER...THE RED FLAG WARNING HAS BEEN EXTENDED THROUGH 11
PM. TELEGRAPH FLATS RAWS REPORTING GUSTS TO 54 MPH AND 4 PERCENT
RH. BREEZY NORTHWEST WINDS WILL CONTINUE FOR THURSDAY.
&&
.SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
UT...HIGH WIND WARNING UNTIL 11 PM WEDNESDAY FOR UTZ019-UTZ020.
RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL 11 PM WEDNESDAY FOR UTZ019-UTZ020.
SNOW ADVISORY UNTIL NOON THURSDAY FOR UTZ007-UTZ008.
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 11 PM WEDNESDAY FOR UTZ021.
WY...NONE.
&&
PUBLIC...GIBSON
FIRE WEATHER...GIBSON
AVIATION...KRUSE
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 646 AM MDT WED APR 30 2008 UTZ001>012-014-015-517-WYZ021-011300- 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-SANPETE/SEVIER VALLEYS- WEST CENTRAL UTAH-CENTRAL MOUNTAINS-SOUTHWEST WYOMING- 646 AM MDT WED APR 30 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE NORTHERN HALF OF UTAH AND EXTREME SOUTHWEST WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THE COLD FRONT THAT SWEPT THROUGH NORTHERN UTAH LAST NIGHT HAS LEFT NORTH WINDS AND MUCH COLDER TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE AREAS. AN INCREASINGLY MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS WILL ARRIVE LATER TODAY...LEADING TO WIDESPREAD SHOWERS DURING THE AFTERNOON AND ON THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. LOCALLY HEAVY SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED ACROSS THE WASATCH MOUNTAINS. A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE WASATCH MOUNTAINS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY SNOW SHOWERS WILL GRADUALLY TAPER OFF THURSDAY AS THE STORM SYSTEM MOVES OFF TO THE EAST. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN UNSEASONABLY COOL THURSDAY...THEN WARM ON FRIDAY AS HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT PASSES THROUGH THE AREA. A WEAK PACIFIC TROUGH WILL SETTLE OVER THE GREAT BASIN THIS WEEKEND...KEEPING TEMPERATURES BELOW NORMAL AND PRODUCING SCATTERED LIGHT SHOWERS. A WARMING TREND WILL DEVELOP BEGINNING ON TUESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. UTZ013-016-019>021-518-011300- SAN RAFAEL SWELL-SOUTHWEST UTAH- UTAHS DIXIE AND ZION NATIONAL PARK-SOUTH CENTRAL UTAH- GLEN CANYON RECREATION AREA/LAKE POWELL-SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS- 646 AM MDT WED APR 30 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHERN UTAH. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT STRONG AND GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL DEVELOP AGAIN LATER IN THE MORNING AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT PRESSING SOUTH THROUGH SOUTHERN UTAH. A VERY DRY AIRMASS AHEAD OF THE FRONT COMBINED WITH THE STRONG WINDS WILL CREATE HAZARDOUS FIRE WEATHER CONDITION ACROSS EXTREME SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH CENTRAL UTAH. SIGNIFICANTLY COOLER AIR WILL FOLLOW THE FRONT SOUTH TODAY AND TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY COOL AND BREEZY CONDITIONS WILL EXIST ACROSS SOUTHERN UTAH THURSDAY. TEMPERATURES WILL WARM ON FRIDAY AS HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT PASSES THROUGH THE GREAT BASIN. NEAR SEASONAL TEMPERATURES AND ISOLATED SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED THIS WEEKEND...FOLLOWED BY A WARMING TREND BEGINNING TUESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM NOAA/S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE VISIT... HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/SALTLAKECITY (ALL LOWER CASE)
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Snowbird received 23 new inches of snow for the storm total, while Alta received 22 inches. Both of these sites received 12 to 15 inches of new snow in a 12 hour period. Note that this event began in April.
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, May 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: 102834.