Thunderstorms moved across northern Utah on the afternoon of May 3rd, some of them severe. Both gusty winds and severe hail were observed, and an EF0 tornado touched down in Willard, Utah.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
Thunderstorms moved across northern Utah on the afternoon of May 3rd, some of them severe. Both gusty winds and severe hail were observed, and an EF0 tornado touched down in Willard, Utah. In addition, strong gusty winds ocurred near the Great Salt Lake after the cold frontal passage.
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 May 3, 1:34 PM MST, 2 hours 26 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 234 PM MDT SUN MAY 3 2009 .SYNOPSIS...A SERIES OF WEAK PACIFIC WEATHER SYSTEMS WILL CROSS NORTHERN UTAH THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT. A MILD WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT WILL FOLLOW FOR THE LATTER HALF OF THE WEEK. && .DISCUSSION...WATER VAPOR LOOP SHOWS A SERIES OF WAVES ROTATING AROUND AN UPPER LOW OFF OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. STRONG WESTERLIES WERE IN PLACE ALONG 40N...SHEARING ENERGY EASTWARD. ONE SUCH WAVE IS CURRENTLY OVER NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. ACARS 400-250MB WIND OBSERVATIONS REVEAL A WESTERLY JET OF 100-130KT CROSSING INTO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA FROM THE PACIFIC. 12Z 700MB ANALYSIS SHOWS RIDGING IN PLACE ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT CROSSING THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. COOL ADVECTION WAS OCCURRING LOCALLY WITH -1C AT KSLC AND -2C UPSTREAM AT KLKN. 12Z KSLC RAOB INDICATES 1 TO 3C OF COOLING THROUGH THE COLUMN DURING THE PAST 24 HOURS. THE PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUE REMAINS ABOVE A HALF INCH. THE COMBINATION OF INCREASED SOLAR INSOLATION THIS AFTERNOON AND COOLING ALOFT WILL STEEPEN LAPSE RATES...WITH THE 09Z SHORT RANGE ENSEMBLES INDICATING A GOOD CHANCE OF 7-8C 500-700MB LAPSE RATES DEVELOPING THIS AFTERNOON. SAME GUIDANCE INDICATES 250 J/KG OF MUCAPE WILL BE LIKELY THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS NORTHERN UTAH...COINCIDENT WITH INCREASING CHANCES OF 30-40KTS OF EFFECTIVE SHEAR WITH THE ARRIVAL OF THE EXIT REGION OF THE UPPER LEVEL JET. THE RUC AND GOES SOUNDER INDICATE LIFTED INDICES HAVE DECREASED TO -2 TO -6C ACROSS THE NORTHWEST FORECAST AREA AS OF 20Z. EXPECT SCATTERED CONVECTION ACROSS NORTHERN UTAH AND ISOLATED CONVECTION ACROSS PARTS OF SOUTHERN UTAH TO CONTINUE TO DEVELOP MID AFTERNOON AND LAST INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. THE 00Z WRF-NMM RUN FOR SPC AND 06Z NCEP WRF-NMM/ARM SIMULATED REFLECTIVITY ALL INDICATE THIS SCENARIO UNFOLDING TO SOME DEGREE. CONVECTION WILL HAVE TO BE MONITORED THROUGHOUT THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING FOR STRONG TO LOCALLY SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS GIVEN THE DEGREE OF DEEP LAYER SHEAR AND INVERTED-V PROFILES INDICATED BY THE 12Z NAM. CONVECTION WILL TEND TO STRATIFY DURING THE LATER EVENING HOURS ACROSS NORTHERN AND CENTRAL UTAH BEFORE PASSING TO THE EAST AND DISSIPATING OVERNIGHT. SNOW LEVELS RISE TO ABOUT 9500-11000 FEET BY EVENING BEFORE LOWERING TO 8000-10000 FEET LATE TONIGHT. SHORT WAVE RIDGING TAKES PLACE TOMORROW WITH PERHAPS SOME LINGERING SHOWERS IN THE MOUNTAINS. EXPECTING SLIGHTLY COOLER CONDITIONS TOMORROW WITH THE COLD FRONTAL PASSAGE WHICH TAKES PLACE TONIGHT. WARM ADVECTION INCREASES MONDAY NIGHT AHEAD OF ANOTHER STRONG WESTERLY JET NOSING IN FROM THE PACIFIC TUESDAY. THIS SHOULD INCREASE THE CHANCES OF ANOTHER HEALTHY SPRING PRECIPITATION EVENT ACROSS THE NORTHERN FORECAST AREA. RISING HEIGHTS BEHIND THE SHORTWAVE ENERGY SHOULD ALLOW HEIGHTS TO GRADUALLY RISE DURING THE MID WEEK...PLACING PRECIPITATION NORTH OF THE IDAHO BORDER. BOTH THE 12Z GFS AND EUROPEAN ADVERTISE ANOTHER DISTURBANCE ARRIVES ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN ON THE STRONG WESTERLIES SOMETIME NEXT WEEKEND. WITH TIMING DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO PIECES OF GUIDANCE DUE TO THE STRONG FLOW...HAVE SIDED SLIGHTLY SLOWER WITH THE EUROPEAN FOR NOW. && .AVIATION...RAIN SHOWERS AND PERHAPS A THUNDERSTORM WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA LATER THIS AFTERNOON AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT. HIGH END MVFR CONDITIONS CAN NOT BE RULED OUT WITH THIS BAND. THE COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TO CROSS THE TERMINAL BETWEEN 23-01Z THIS EVENING. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...NONE. WY...NONE. && PUBLIC...ROGOWSKI AVIATION...KRUSE FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM NOAA/S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE VISIT... HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/SALTLAKECITY (ALL LOWER CASE)
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 236 PM MDT SUN MAY 3 2009 UTZ001>016-019>021-517-518-WYZ021-041200- 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- 236 PM MDT SUN MAY 3 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE WESTERN TWO THIRDS OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT ISOLATED TO SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL FORM AHEAD OF AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT DURING THE MID AFTERNOON...LASTING INTO THE EVENING HOURS. SOME OF THESE STORMS MAY BECOME STRONG OR LOCALLY SEVERE WITH THE THREAT OF DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL AS WELL AS DANGEROUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING AND A BRIEF HEAVY DOWNPOUR. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SUNDAY A WARM AND GENERALLY DRY WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT WILL EXIST ACROSS THE AREA THROUGH FRIDAY. SOUTHWEST WINDS MAY BECOME GUSTY ACROSS PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL UTAH NEXT WEEKEND AS THE NEXT STORM SYSTEM APPROACHES. THESE WINDS MAY BE STRONG ENOUGH TO AFFECT WIND SENSITIVE OPERATIONS. .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)
The Salt Lake City radar (KMTX), 60 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:58 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail, 1 tornado, 1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A 62 mph wind gust was recorded at the I-80 UDOT sensor at mile post 78.
Hail with a 0.75 inch diameter was observed in Perry, Utah. The spotter also reported that the hail accumulated 2 inches deep.
A magnitude EF0 tornado touched down in Willard. The tornado path was one mile, starting at 75 East 300 South and ending at 300 East 230 South. The damage from the tornado included damaged siding, several uprooted trees, a couple of snapped trees, and a tossed empty snowmobile trailer.
Several strong post-frontal wind gusts were recorded across the Great Salt Lake, including 71 mph at Promontory Point, 66 mph at Gunnison Island, and 62 mph at Hat Island.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Utah, 2009Warnings in Utah, May 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: 170868, 170376, 170912, 170867.