A weak tornado was spotted in far southern Utah on August 24th, and flash flooding occurred once again in Capitol Reef National Park on the 25th.
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.
A weak tornado was spotted in far southern Utah on August 24th, and flash flooding occurred once again in Capitol Reef National Park on the 25th.
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 Aug 24, 2:48 PM MST, 27 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 348 PM MDT WED AUG 24 2011 .SYNOPSIS...HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WILL REMAIN STATIONARY JUST EAST OF THE FOUR CORNERS THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK. MOISTURE SURROUNDING THE HIGH PRESSURE WILL PRODUCE AFTERNOON AND EVENING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS EACH OF THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. && .DISCUSSION...STRONG HIGH PRESSURE REMAINS FOCUSED JUST EAST OF THE FOUR CORNERS THIS AFTERNOON PER REGIONAL WATER VAPOR IMAGERY. A SHORT WAVE LIFTING NORTH ON THE WESTERN FRINGE OF SAID HIGH IS LIFTING RAPIDLY NORTH ALONG THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA COAST...THIS AIDING IN DRAWING DEEPER MOISTURE NORTH ACROSS MOST ALL OF THE STATE. CONVECTION INITIATED STARTING MIDDAY ALONG THE SPINE OF HIGHER TERRAIN STRETCHING FROM THE UINTAS SOUTHWEST ACROSS THE PLATEAU ON DOWN TO THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS. THIS CONVECTION REMAINS IN PLACE...WHILE ISOLATED CONVECTION IS JUST NOW FORMING OVER THE TERRAIN OF THE NORTH. LATEST FORECAST HAS EXPANDED AREAL COVERAGE OF STORMS FOR THIS EVENING TO INCLUDE PORTIONS OF THE WASATCH FRONT. GROSS PATTERN WILL CHANGE LITTLE OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. VERY WARM TEMPS WILL KEEP THE CURRENT HEAT WAVE GOING THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK WITH THE CONVECTIVE CLOUD COVER BEING THE ONLY HOPE FOR LIMITING MAX TEMPS SOME 5-10 DEGREES ABOVE CLIMO. AS MENTIONED ABOVE...AREAL EXTENT OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IS TRENDING TO INCREASE TODAY AND WILL LIKELY CONTINUE TO GRADUALLY DO SO OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS. PEAK COVERAGE ACROSS THE STATE WILL LIKELY COME SATURDAY AS AN APPROACHING SHORT WAVE FROM THE WEST WILL DRAW EVEN DEEPER MOISTURE NORTH WHILE ADDING MEAGER SYNOPTIC LIFT TO THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE STATE. UPON WAVE PASSAGE LATE THIS WEEKEND THE STRONG HIGH IS EXPECTED TO FLATTEN BENEATH A MORE BROAD WESTERLY FLOW. SAID FLOW WILL TREND TO DRY THE AREA FROM WEST TO EAST...THOUGH EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AREAS OF THE STATE SHOULD RETAIN AT LEAST ISOLATED TERRAIN BASED CONVECTION. ON THE BROADER SCOPE OF THINGS TEMPS ARE EXPECTED TO COOL BACK TOWARDS MORE CLIMATOLOGICAL NORMS BY EARLY NEXT WEEK. && .AVIATION...THE SLC TERMINAL WILL SEE VFR CONDITIONS UNDER PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES THROUGHOUT THE FORECAST PERIOD. NORTHWEST WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO SHIFT TO THE SOUTHEAST BETWEEN 02Z AND 04Z. THAT SAID...OUTFLOW FROM A THUNDERSTORM OVER HERRIMAN WILL LIKELY CAUSE A BRIEF PERIOD OF GUSTY AND ERRATIC SOUTHERLY WINDS BETWEEN 2130-2230Z...AND A 20 PERCENT CHANCE THAT SIMILAR STORMS WILL CAUSE FURTHER OUTFLOW ISSUES THROUGH THIS EVENING. && .FIRE WEATHER...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE STATE...WITH THE FOCUS ON SOUTHEASTERN UTAH WHERE THE MOISTURE IS DEEPEST. THE MAIN IMPACT FROM THE STORMS OVER SOUTHEASTERN UTAH...WHILE ELSEWHERE THE MAIN IMPACT WILL BE GUSTY WINDS. HIGH PRESSURE WILL SHIFT EASTWARD FRIDAY...ALLOWING MOISTURE TO INCREASE ACROSS NORTHERN UTAH. AS A RESULT...AFTERNOON CONVECTION THAT HAS BEEN SO COMMON THE PAST FEW DAYS WILL EXPAND IN COVERAGE THROUGH SATURDAY. A DISTURBANCE WILL CROSS TO THE NORTH OF THE STATE SUNDAY...BRINGING DRIER AIR INTO NORTHERN UTAH. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...NONE. WY...NONE. && MERRILL/YOUNG/HOSENFELD FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM NOAA/S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE VISIT... HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/SALTLAKECITY (ALL LOWER CASE) FOR FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION VISIT... HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/SALTLAKECITY/GENERAL/AFD_FAQS.PHP (ALL LOWER CASE)
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 655 AM MDT WED AUG 24 2011 UTZ001>016-019>021-517-518-WYZ021-251300- 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- 655 AM MDT WED AUG 24 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE WESTERN TWO THIRDS OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT MOISTURE STREAMING NORTH AROUND THE STRONG HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM CENTERED JUST TO THE EAST OF THE FOUR CORNERS REGION WILL FUEL TERRAIN BASED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS AGAIN THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. ISOLATED HEAVY RAIN EVENTS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS THIS AFTERNOON. A FEW DRAINAGES MAY EXPERIENCE ENOUGH HEAVY RAIN TO SEE FLASH FLOODING DURING THE AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THE HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM ALOFT WILL MOVE LITTLE THROUGH THE BALANCE OF THE WEEK. MOISTURE SURROUNDING THIS HIGH WILL SPAWN AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH FRIDAY. RATHER WARM TEMPERATURES FOR LATE AUGUST ARE EXPECTED...WITH RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES A POSSIBILITY. THE HIGH PRESSURE NEAR THE FOUR CORNERS WILL RETREAT SOUTH THIS WEEKEND. ONE FINAL SURGE OF MOISTURE AROUND THE HIGH WILL PRODUCE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS SATURDAY...FOLLOWED BY A SUBSTANTIALLY DRIER WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT EARLY NEXT WEEK. .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)
The Cedar City radar (KICX), 62 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:14 UTC.
1 tornado, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A trained spotter observed a tornado west of Apple Valley, Utah. The weak tornado was short-lived and caused no damage; tall grasses in the area were disturbed, but nearby bushes and trees remained undamaged.
Heavy rain caused flash flooding along Sulpher Creek in Capitol Reef National Park; the flood was categorized as impressive by one of the park rangers.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Utah, 2011Warnings in Utah, August 2011
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: 346603, 344996.