A moist westerly flow with embedded weather disturbances brought periods of snow to northern Utah over two days. The snow became heavy at times, especially over the Cottonwood Canyons and Ogden Valley.
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 moist westerly flow with embedded weather disturbances brought periods of snow to northern Utah over two days. The snow became heavy at times, especially over the Cottonwood Canyons and Ogden Valley.
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 4, 9:22 PM MST, 2 hours 38 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 922 PM MST SUN JAN 4 2009 .SYNOPSIS...HIGH PRESSURE WILL KEEP A COLD AIRMASS IN PLACE THROUGH TONIGHT. A WARM FRONT WILL CROSS UTAH ON MONDAY WITH ANOTHER WARM FRONT LATE TUESDAY. && .DISCUSSION...MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES ACROSS THE AREA THIS EVENING AND A COLD AIRMASS IN PLACE HAVE COMBINED TO PRODUCE TEMPERATURES THAT ARE ALREADY IN THE SINGLE DIGITS TO BELOW ZERO IN MANY AREAS. THUS...EXPECT ANOTHER VERY COLD NIGHT ACROSS THE REGION. HOWEVER...HIGH CLOUDS WILL MOVE INTO NORTHWEST UTAH LATER TONIGHT WHICH SHOULD HELP KEEP TEMPERATURES FROM PLUMMETING TOO FAR IN THAT AREA. THE CLOUDS PRECEDE AN APPROACHING STORM SYSTEM WHICH WILL IMPACT THE AREA BEGINNING TOMORROW MORNING. THIS SYSTEM...CURRENTLY OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST COAST...WILL SLIDE ACROSS NORTHEAST UTAH TOMORROW. MOISTURE WILL INCREASE ACROSS THE AREA AS WARM ADVECTION DEVELOPS TOMORROW MORNING. THE AREA WILL REMAIN ALMOST ENTIRELY IN THE WARM ADVECTION PATTERN THROUGH THE DURATION OF THIS STORM AS COLD ADVECTION WILL BE VERY BRIEF. THE POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT PRECIPITATION IS INCREASED WITH FAVORABLE JET POSITION TOMORROW AFTERNOON...SOME LOW/MIDLEVEL CONVERGENCE AND COOLING ALOFT. NORTHERN MOUNTAINS ARE EXPECTED TO SEE AT LEAST ADVISORY CRITERIA SNOW. MANY OF THE NORTHERN VALLEYS WILL SEE ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL...WITH PERHAPS A FEW AREAS REACHING ADVISORY CRITERIA AS WELL. AREAS ACROSS CENTRAL UTAH WILL SEE LESS SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL. MIDNIGHT SHIFT WILL NEED TO EVALUATE FOR HIGHLIGHTS. WITH WARM ADVECTION AND INCREASING WINDS...EXPECT TEMPERATURES TOMORROW TO BE WARMER THAN TODAY. PRECIPITATION SHOULD DECREASE TOMORROW NIGHT AS THE TROUGH MOVES EAST OF THE AREA...BUT INCREASE AGAIN FOR TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT AS WARM ADVECTION REDEVELOPS. MOUNTAINS AGAIN COULD SEE ADVISORY-LEVEL SNOWFALL...BUT SOME VALLEY AREAS MAY START TO SEE SOME RAIN MIXED IN WITH SNOW AS THE AIRMASS CONTINUES TO WARM. HIGH PRESSURE WILL DEVELOP OVER THE AREA FOR THE MIDDLE PART OF THE WEEK BEFORE THE NEXT STORM SYSTEM IMPACTS THE AREA ON FRIDAY. THIS SYSTEM LOOKS RELATIVELY WEAK...BUT COULD BRING A QUICK SHOT OF PRECIPITATION TO THE AREA. HIGH PRESSURE WILL THEN SETTLE JUST OFF THE WEST COAST FOR NEXT WEEKEND WITH THE INTERMOUNTAIN REGION REMAINING UNDER A NORTHWESTERLY FLOW PATTERN. CURRENT FORECAST LOOKS GOOD. NO UPDATES. && .AVIATION...SURFACE WINDS AT THE SLC TERMINAL ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN OUT OF THE SOUTHEAST. OTHERWISE...EXPECT VFR CONDITIONS UNDER MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES. CLOUDS WILL PUSH IN AFTER 09Z. CEILINGS WILL RAPIDLY BEGIN TO LOWER AFTER 12Z WITH CEILINGS BELOW 7000FT AGL LIKELY BY 18Z. PRECIPITATION WILL THEN MOVE INTO THE AREA IN THE AFTERNOON. OCCASIONAL IFR CONDITIONS IN SNOW EXPECTED BY 00Z. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...NONE. WY...NONE. && PUBLIC...CHENG AVIATION...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 250 PM MST SUN JAN 4 2009 UTZ001>016-019>021-517-518-WYZ021-051300- 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- 250 PM MST SUN JAN 4 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE WESTERN TWO THIRDS OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT VERY COLD TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE REGION AGAIN TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY ANOTHER PACIFIC SYSTEM WILL MOVE ACROSS THE REGION MONDAY INTO TUESDAY. SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL TOTALS CAN BE EXPECTED IN THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN UTAH WITH THIS SYSTEM. ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL CAN ALSO BE EXPECTED IN THE WASATCH MOUNTAIN VALLEYS...SOUTHWEST WYOMING AND ALONG THE WASATCH FRONT. HIGH PRESSURE WILL RETURN TO THE AREA FOR THE LATTER PORTION OF THE WEEK BEFORE ANOTHER PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM AFFECTS THE OUTLOOK AREA THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY. .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)
2 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Alta received a storm total of 37 inches new snow. Snowbird received 24 inches, and Brighton Crest received 22 inches of snow.
Liberty received a storm total of 21 inches new snow.
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, January 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: 151672, 151673.