Virga and rain showers across the Great Salt Lake Desert caused a period of gusty winds.
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.
Virga and rain showers across the Great Salt Lake Desert caused a period of gusty winds.
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 23, 8:30 PM MST, 20 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 930 PM MDT THU APR 23 2009 .SYNOPSIS...A COLD FRONT WORKING INTO NORTHERN UTAH TONIGHT WILL STALL UNTIL FRIDAY NIGHT THEN SHIFT SOUTH. THE ASSOCIATED PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE TO IMPACT MUCH OF UTAH THROUGH THE WEEKEND. && .DISCUSSION...POS TILT UPPER TROF CONTINUES THIS EVE FROM THE NRN ROCKIES SWWD OFF THE OR COAST. THE ASSOCIATED SURFACE TROF LAYS ACROSS NRN-CENTRAL UT AND THE RESULTING LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE AIDED BY SOME UPPER SUPPORT HAVE GENERATED A FAIRLY WIDESPREAD AREA OF HIGH BASED CONVECTION ACROSS ABOUT THE NWRN 1/3 OF UT. PRETTY MUCH NONE OF THIS HAS REACHED THE GROUND BUT ISOLATED STRONG WIND GUSTS DID OCCUR. THE THREAT OF ADDITIONAL STRONG WINDS HAS DIMINISHED WITH THE LOSS OF DAYTIME HEATING BUT THE HIGH BASED CONVECTION WILL LIKELY CONTINUE...AND GRADUALLY TRANSITION INTO A MORE STRATIFORM CLOUD DECK AND AN INCREASING CHANCE OF LIGHT RAIN OVERNIGHT AS COLD AIR DEEPENS ACROSS NRN UT. THE NEW NAM CONTINUES TO SHOW THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE INCOMING TROF SHEARING OFF TO THE EAST WHILE THE SWRN PORTION CLOSES OFF ALONG THE NRN CA COAST DURING THE DAY FRI. THE 18Z GFS MOVED TOWARDS THIS SOLUTION AND AWAY FROM THE EARLIER IDEA OF A MORE CONSOLIDATED POS TILT TROF MOVING EAST BY SAT MORNING. IF THIS IS THE CASE...THE BAROCLINIC ZONE WILL STALL TOMORROW INTO SAT...DECREASING THE CHANCE OF PRECIP TOMORROW AFTERNOON AS THE SYSTEM SPLITS AND UPPER SUPPORT WEAKENS...BUT INCREASING THE CHANCES OF PRECIP LINGERING ACROSS THE CWA LONGER INTO THE WEEKEND. THIS WOULD ALSO RESULT IN A BETTER CHANCE OF PRECIP ACROSS MORE OF SOUTHERN UT AS THE CLOSED LOW MOVES EAST ALONG THE UT AZ BORDER SAT INTO SUN. FOR NOW...THE IDEA OF A GRADUALLY INCREASING CHANCE OF RAIN ACROSS THE NORTH OVERNIGHT IS COVERED BY CURRENT FORECASTS BUT THE IDEA OF A CONTINUED INCREASING CHANCE THROUGH THE DAY FRI MAY NOT PAN OUT. HOWEVER...WILL NOT UPDATE FOR THE 2ND PERIOD AT THIS TIME WITHOUT A LOOK AT THE NEW GFS. && .AVIATION...WEST-NORTHWEST SURFACE WINDS AT THE SLC TERMINAL ARE EXPECTED TO PERSIST THROUGH 03-04Z...WHEN WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO EITHER BECOME SOUTHEASTERLY OR LIGHT AND VARIABLE. THERE IS A 30 PERCENT CHANCE THAT WINDS STAY OUT OF THE NORTHWEST. SHOWERS MOVING BY THE AIRFIELD COULD ALSO CAUSE VARIABLE WINDS. COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH THE AREA TOMORROW MORNING...BRINGING RAIN TO THE TERMINAL...WITH MVFR CONDITIONS POSSIBLE IN THE HEAVIER SHOWERS. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...NONE. WY...NONE. && WILENSKY/YOUNG 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 253 AM MDT THU APR 23 2009 UTZ001>016-019>021-517-518-WYZ021-241200- 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- 253 AM MDT THU APR 23 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE WESTERN TWO THIRDS OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS NORTHERN UTAH DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS. A FEW OF THESE STORMS MAY BE STRONG WITH LOCALLY HIGHER WIND GUSTS...SMALL HAIL AND DANGEROUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING. SOUTHWESTERLY WINDS WILL BECOME GUSTY ACROSS PORTIONS OF WESTERN AND SOUTHERN UTAH THIS AFTERNOON. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY GUSTY SOUTHWESTERLY WINDS WILL ONCE AGAIN DEVELOP ACROSS SOUTHWEST AND SOUTHERN UTAH FRIDAY. THESE WINDS MAY AFFECT WIND SENSITIVE OPERATIONS. A COLD STORM SYSTEM WILL AFFECT UTAH FROM FRIDAY THROUGH THIS WEEKEND. SNOW LEVELS WILL LOWER TO 5000 FEET BY LATE FRIDAY NIGHT ACROSS NORTHERN UTAH. SIGNIFICANT SNOW IS LIKELY IN THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS AND POSSIBLE IN THE NORTHERN PORTIONS OF THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS DURING THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. ROGOWSKI FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM NOAA/S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE VISIT... HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/SALTLAKECITY (ALL LOWER CASE)
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT
622 PM MDT THU APR 23 2009
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0350 PM NON-TSTM WND GST ARAGONITE 40.76N 113.01W
04/23/2009 M59 MPH TOOELE UT MESONET
I-80 AT GRASSEY - 4650 FT
0410 PM NON-TSTM WND GST GOLD HILL 40.28N 113.70W
04/23/2009 M74 MPH TOOELE UT MESONET
WEST SALT FLATS - 4237 FT
0540 PM NON-TSTM WND GST NORDIC VLY 41.38N 111.78W
04/23/2009 M58 MPH WEBER UT MESONET
0550 PM NON-TSTM WND GST DUGWAY 39.92N 112.94W
04/23/2009 M61 MPH TOOELE UT MESONET
SIMPSON SPRINGS - 4645 FT
&&1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Virga and showers with no lightning production created strong gusty winds across the Great Salt Lake Desert, including gusts of 74 mph at West Salt Flats, a 61 mph gust at Simpson Springs, and a 59 mph wind gust recorded at the I-80 at Grassey sensor.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, April 2009
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: 167690.