A cold upper level trough moved across far southern Utah on the morning of January 3rd, bringing quick snow accumulations to the lowest valleys of the state.
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 cold upper level trough moved across far southern Utah on the morning of January 3rd, bringing quick snow accumulations to the lowest valleys of the state.
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 2, 8:28 PM MST, 4 hours 32 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 828 PM MST SUN JAN 2 2011 .SYNOPSIS...A WEAK WEATHER DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE ACROSS NORTHEAST UTAH TONIGHT. AN UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OVER CALIFORNIA THIS EVENING WILL MOVE EAST AND CROSS SOUTHERN UTAH MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. && .DISCUSSION...WATER VAPOR LOOP SHOWS AN UPPER LOW SINKING SOUTHEAST OVER CENTRAL CALIFORNIA WITH A SECOND ONE TRAILING OFF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. MEANWHILE...THE TAIL OF A SHORT WAVE IS DROPPING SOUTHWARD OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKIES IN THE NORTHERN STREAM. ACARS 400-250MB WIND OBSERVATIONS PLACES UTAH IN BETWEEN TWO 75-100KT JET STREAMS. THE SOUTHERN JET RUNS WEST TO EAST FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTO THE PLAINS. THE NORTHERN JET RUNS CYCLONICALLY FROM ALBERTA AND OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKIES. 00Z 700MB ANALYSIS PLACES A CYCLONE OFF THE COAST OF CENTRAL CALIFORNIA. WARMING WAS OCCURRING LOCALLY WITH -9C AT KSLC. 00Z KSLC RAOB SHOWS GENERALLY 1-3C OF WARMING THROUGH THE COLUMN DURING THE PAST 24 HOURS. THE SOUNDING INDICATED MOISTENING IN THE MID LEVELS...WITH A 5C INVERSION LOCATED NEAR 825MB. GOES SOUNDER/RUC AND GPS PRECIPITABLE WATER SENSORS INDICATE VALUES HAVE RISEN TO BETWEEN A QUARTER AND THIRD OF AN INCH. MAIN FORECAST CHALLENGES IN THE SHORT TERM ARE OVERNIGHT LOWS AND CHANCES FOR LIGHT PRECIPITATION. IR SATELLITE SHOWS CALIFORNIA SYSTEM IS SHEARING...WITH THE UPPER LEVEL JET DISPLACING MOISTURE FURTHER EAST OF THE CIRCULATION CENTER. WITH WEAKENING DYNAMICS AND REMOVAL OF MOISTURE TAP...EXPECT LIGHT QPF FROM THIS SYSTEM AS IT WEAKENS ACROSS NORTHERN ARIZONA TOMORROW. FOR TONIGHT...REMOVED MENTION OF VALLEY PRECIPITATION AND KEPT SLIGHT CHANCES ACROSS THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS. HAVE INSTEAD OPTED TO GO WITH A CHANCE OF FLURRIES FOR THE CENTRAL AND WESTERN VALLEYS AS CHANCES OF ACCUMULATION REMAIN QUITE LOW. AS THE TAIL OF THE NORTHERN SYSTEM CONTINUES TO MARCH SOUTHEAST ACROSS SOUTHERN IDAHO AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING...IT APPEARS NORTHERN ZONES WILL HAVE A GOOD CHANCE TO SEE CLEARING BY MORNING. WENT AHEAD AND LOWERED SKY COVERAGE FOR THE SECOND HALF OF TONIGHT ACROSS FAR NORTHERN UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING. TWEAKED TEMPERATURES BASED ON LATEST OBSERVATIONS AND GUIDANCE. EXPECTING A WARMER NIGHT THAN PREVIOUS TWO BASED ON CONTINUED WARM ADVECTION AND A GOOD DEAL OF CLOUDS OVERNIGHT. PREVIOUS DISCUSSION FOLLOWS... THE UPPER LOW WILL CONTINUE TO APPROACH UTAH TOMORROW...THEN SHEAR OUT AND WEAKEN AS IT SLIDES ALONG THE UTAH/ARIZONA BORDER TOMORROW NIGHT AND TUESDAY MORNING. MEANWHILE...ANOTHER SHORTWAVE TROUGH WILL BRUSH NORTHEAST UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING ON TUESDAY. ALTHOUGH COVERAGE OF PRECIPITATION MAY INCREASE ACROSS THE AREA FOR MONDAY INTO TUESDAY...THE WEAK DYNAMICS WOULD SUGGEST THAT PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS WILL REMAIN ON THE LIGHT SIDE. HIGH PRESSURE WILL THEN BUILD INTO THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE GREAT BASIN FOR THE LATTER PART OF THE WEEK WHILE ANOTHER CLOSED LOW SLOWLY MEANDERS ACROSS SOUTHERN ARIZONA. THE LOW WILL LIKELY REMAIN TOO FAR SOUTH TO HAVE ANY SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON UTAH...SO STABLE CONDITIONS PREVAILING UNDER THE RIDGE WOULD SERVE TO KEEP TEMPERATURES NEAR OR BELOW NORMAL WEDNESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. && .AVIATION...THE SLC TERMINAL WILL SEE VFR CONDITIONS THROUGH THE NIGHT WITH CIGS BETWEEN 6000 FT AND 7000 FT AGL. LIGHT WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO BECOME SOUTHEASTERLY BY 05Z. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...NONE. WY...NONE. && PUBLIC...ROGOWSKI/CHENG AVIATION...TRAPHAGAN 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 646 AM MST SUN JAN 2 2011 UTZ001>016-019>021-517-518-WYZ021-031400- 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- 646 AM MST SUN JAN 2 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE WESTERN TWO THIRDS OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY LOW PRESSURE OVER CALIFORNIA WILL MOVE EAST ACROSS SOUTHERN UTAH LATE MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. LIGHT SNOWS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS AND ADJACENT VALLEYS. A STABLE NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL EXIST ACROSS THE AREA DURING THE MIDDLE AND LATTER PORTIONS OF THE WEEK. LIGHT WINDS AND STRENGTHENING VALLEY INVERSIONS WILL RESULT IN AN INCREASE IN HAZE ACROSS THE URBAN AREAS OF NORTHERN UTAH WEDNESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. .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)
1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Generally 2 to 3 inches of snow accumulation was reported across the city of St. George.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, January 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: 280842.