Monsoonal moisture moved into Utah beginning on July 3, allowing for widespread showers and thunderstorms across the state. Many of these thunderstorms produced strong, gusty winds.
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.
Monsoonal moisture moved into Utah beginning on July 3, allowing for widespread showers and thunderstorms across the state. Many of these thunderstorms produced strong, gusty winds. Other noteworthy occurrences from these thunderstorms included at least one thunderstorm that helped produce a gustnado, and lightning that ignited fires across 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 Jul 3, 8:23 PM MST, 2 hours 52 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 923 PM MDT WED JUL 3 2013 .SYNOPSIS...THE STRONG UPPER HIGH OVER THE GREAT BASIN WILL CONTINUE TO BREAK DOWN THROUGH THE WEEKEND...KEEPING A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS OVER THE REGION THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK. && .DISCUSSION...THE STRONG HIGH PRESSURE RESIDING OVER THE GREAT BASIN FOR THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS HAS STARTED TO WEAKEN AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO THROUGH THE WEEKEND IN RESPONSE TO A SERIES OF SHORTWAVE TROUGHS MOVING ALONG THE CANADIAN BORDER. WHAT THIS MEANS IS THAT THE VERY HOT TEMPERATURES OF LATE WILL FINALLY TREND DOWNWARD. ALTHOUGH A FEW SITES AROUND UTAH STILL HIT RECORD HIGHS AGAIN TODAY...THE SALT LAKE AIRPORT JUST BARELY MANAGED TO REACH TRIPLE DIGITS. HOWEVER...EXPECT TRIPLE DIGIT READINGS TO BE LESS PREVALENT THE NEXT FEW DAYS AND CONFINED MAINLY TO SOUTHERN UTAH. THE OTHER NOTICEABLE CHANGE IN THE WEATHER OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS WILL BE THE INCREASE IN MOISTURE. MOISTURE HAS ALREADY BEGUN TO INCREASE ACROSS THE NORTH TODAY AND WILL SPREAD SOUTH TOMORROW. NOT ONLY WILL THIS RESULT IN THE INCREASE OF THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE...SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD PRODUCE BRIEF HEAVY RAIN AS WELL...AS SEEN WITH A FEW OF THE STRONGER STORMS THAT DEVELOPED TODAY. THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY FROM TODAY IS WINDING DOWN ACROSS THE AREA THIS EVENING FOR THE MOST PART. HOWEVER...THE CONCERN IS THAT A WEAK DISTURBANCE ACROSS IDAHO WILL DROP SOUTH INTO UTAH TONIGHT. MODELS INDICATE A VORT MAX LINGERING OVER NORTHERN UTAH THROUGH THE NIGHT. AS A RESULT...SHOWERS COULD BE FILLING IN LATER THIS EVENING INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS ACROSS THE NORTH. WILL UPDATE TO ADJUST SKY/POP FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE EVENING BASED ON OBSERVATIONAL TRENDS AND TO INTRODUCE MENTIONABLE POPS TO NORTHERN AND WEST-CENTRAL UTAH FOR THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. && .AVIATION...SURFACE WINDS AT THE SLC TERMINAL WILL REMAIN LIGHT NORTHWEST THROUGH ABOUT 04Z-05Z...BEFORE SWITCHING BACK TO THE SOUTHEAST. THERE IS A 10 PERCENT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING AFTER 05Z TONIGHT WHICH COULD RESULT IN BRIEF GUSTY OUTFLOW WINDS. && .FIRE WEATHER...THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE INCREASES THROUGH THIS WEEKEND AS A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WITH PLENTY OF MOISTURE EMBEDDED SHIFTS EAST OVERHEAD AND INTO THE FOUR CORNERS REGION. IN THIS PATTERN...CONVECTION WILL NOT BE LIMITED TO AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING. ACROSS NORTHERN UTAH...THE CHANCE OF WETTING RAINS WILL INCREASE. IT WILL REMAIN DRY ENOUGH IN THE LOWER LEVELS FOR THE THREAT OF GUSTY/ERRATIC WINDS WITH CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY ALONG WITH LIGHTNING ACROSS CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN UTAH. ACROSS SOUTHWEST UTAH FRIDAY INTO THIS WEEKEND...SOUTHWEST WINDS MAY INCREASE...THOUGH RH VALUES WILL BE MARGINAL FOR CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS. TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE REGION WILL SLOWLY DECREASE...AT THE EXPENSE OF RISING HUMIDITY VALUES THROUGH THIS WEEKEND. DRIER SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW SETTLES INTO THE REGION EARLY NEXT WEEK. VERY WARM CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE WITH HUMIDITY VALUES FALLING SIGNIFICANTLY (WITH MANY AREAS IN THE SINGLE DIGITS). CONVECTION EARLY NEXT WEEK SHOULD BECOME MORE DIURNAL IN NATURE AND BETTER TIED TO MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...HEAT ADVISORY UNTIL 10 PM MDT THURSDAY FOR UTZ019>021. WY...NONE. && PUBLIC/AVIATION...CHENG FIRE WEATHER...ROGOWSKI 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 1001 PM MDT WED JUL 3 2013 UTZ001>016-019>021-517-518-WYZ021-041300- 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- 1001 PM MDT WED JUL 3 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE WESTERN TWO THIRDS OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE NIGHT. LOCALLY GUSTY OUTFLOW WINDS ARE POSSIBLE WITH ANY STORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE OUTLOOK AREA WILL BEGIN TO COOL OFF THURSDAY ALTHOUGH TRIPLE DIGIT READINGS ARE STILL EXPECTED ACROSS THE FAR SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST. TEMPERATURES WILL ONCE AGAIN REACH OR EXCEED 110 ACROSS UTAHS DIXIE. THE AREAL COVERAGE OF AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS WILL INCREASE AGAIN THURSDAY WITH SIMILAR COVERAGE EXPECTED FRIDAY INTO THE WEEKEND AS MOISTURE INCREASES. THERE WILL ALSO BE AN INCREASING THREAT OF LOCAL HEAVY RAIN ALONG WITH ISOLATED FLASH FLOODING HEADING INTO THE WEEKEND. TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE TO DROP OFF A FEW DEGREES THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK AS THIS MOISTURE SPREADS IN AND THE AIRMASS COOLS SLIGHTLY. .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) FOR INFORMATION ON POTENTIAL TRAVEL IMPACTS VISIT... HTTP://WWW.UDOTTRAFFIC.UTAH.GOV/ROADWEATHERFORECAST.ASPX
The Salt Lake City radar (KMTX), 59 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 06:13 UTC.
17 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
The Locomotive Springs sensor recorded a peak wind gust of 63 mph.
The Hat Island sensor recorded a peak wind gust of 59 mph.
A sensor in Syracuse, Utah recorded a wind gust of 69 mph.
A sensor in Saratoga Springs recorded a maximum wind gust of 58 mph.
A thunderstorm that rolled through Tooele County caused peak wind gusts of 64 mph at the Interstate 80 at Milepost 29 sensor, 61 mph at the Diddle Knoll sensor in the Dugway Proving Ground mesonet, and 59 mph at the Wendover Airport AWOS.
The Lower Cedar Mountain sensor in the Dugway Proving Ground mesonet recorded a peak wind gust of 64 mph.
The Bullfrog Marina sensor recorded a wind gust of 64 mph.
A long-lived thunderstorm moved through the Dugway Proving Ground mesonet, across Interstate 80, and north to the Great Salt Lake. Peak recorded wind gusts along this track included 70 mph at the sensor West of Wildcat Mountain, 69 mph at Interstate 80, 66 mph at Camel Back Mountain, 64 mph at Simpson Springs, 62 mph at Juliet Road, 60 mph at Badger Island, and 58 mph both at Fish Springs and Interstate 80 at Grassey.
The same thunderstorm that produced widespread severe winds in Tooele County eventually moved north into Box Elder County, with a peak recorded wind gust of 70 mph at Gunnison Island.
The Roosevelt AWOS recorded a peak wind gust of 58 mph.
Another thunderstorm moved through the Dugway Proving Ground mesonet, with maximum recorded wind gusts of 64 mph at Juliet Road and 63 mph at Target S.
Peak recorded wind gusts with this thunderstorm included 72 mph at the Great Salt Lake Minerals sensor and 65 mph at Ogden Peak.
Lightning struck the wooden turret of a home near Ogden, setting the roof on fire. The fire spread into one of the upstairs rooms before firefighters were able to put out the blaze. Approximately $20,000 worth of damage occurred, mostly to the roof and electrical wiring.
Multiple sensors recorded severe wind gusts as this thunderstorm crossed Interstate 80. The Interstate 80 at Milepost 29 sensor recorded 66 mph winds; in the Dugway Proving Ground mesonet, the Diddle Knoll sensor recorded a 65 mph wind gust, and the Interstate 80 sensor topped out at 58 mph.
Peak recorded wind gusts from this thunderstorm included 61 mph at Chaulk Hill and 60 mph at Locomotive Springs.
A gustnado was spotted near Plymouth, Utah, and a picture of the gustnado was captured by a nearby webcam. However, no damage was reported in the area.
The Cedar City ASOS recorded a maximum wind gust of 67 mph.
The Pioneer Crossing sensor near Saratoga Springs, Utah recorded a maximum wind gust of 59 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, July 2013
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: 469263, 469290, 469291, 469292, 469294, 469295, 469298, 469300, 469301, 469304, 469307, 469302, 469270, 469308, 469310, 469312, 469311, 469277.