A storm moved through Utah beginning March 23, with gusty winds both ahead of and behind the associated cold front. While most of these winds were sub-severe, isolated stronger gusts occurred pre-frontally, as well as with thunderstorms that formed near the cold front.
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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 storm moved through Utah beginning March 23, with gusty winds both ahead of and behind the associated cold front. While most of these winds were sub-severe, isolated stronger gusts occurred pre-frontally, as well as with thunderstorms that formed near the cold front.
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 Mar 23, 8:16 AM MST, 4 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 916 AM MDT MON MAR 23 2015 .SYNOPSIS...A COLD FRONT WILL CROSS NORTHERN AND CENTRAL UTAH TODAY. A SECOND SYSTEM WILL CROSS MAINLY NORTHERN UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING TUESDAY. STRONG HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WILL RETURN FOR THE LATTER HALF OF THE WEEK. && .DISCUSSION...WATER VAPOR LOOP SHOWS A NEGATIVELY TILTED TROUGH OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST INTO THE EASTERN GREAT BASIN. AMDAR 400-250MB WIND OBSERVATIONS SHOW A 75-115KT CYCLONIC JET FROM NORTHERN CALIFORNIA INTO THE CENTRAL ROCKIES. GOES/GPS/RAP/12Z SLC RAOB INDICATE THE PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUE RANGES BETWEEN 0.15-0.20" EASTERN AND SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS TO 0.33-0.50" VALLEYS. BLENDED TOTAL PRECIPITABLE WATER PRODUCT INDICATES AN ABNORMALLY MOIST AIRMASS ACROSS THE NORTHERN ROCKIES AND GREAT BASIN. RAP 850-700MB THICKNESS/SATURATED EQUIVALENT POTENTIAL TEMPERATURE/STREAMLINES INDICATE THE FRONTAL ZONE WILL SHIFT FROM THE WASATCH FRONT AT 15Z TO ABOUT INTERSTATE 70 BY LATE AFTERNOON. INHERITED FORECAST HAD A GOOD HANDLE ON POP DISTRIBUTION...JUST INCREASED ACROSS EASTERN FORECAST AREA PER OBSERVATIONS THIS MORNING AND A BIT FURTHER SOUTH PER RAP/HRRR/LOCAL WRF THIS AFTERNOON. HIGHER RESOLUTION GUIDANCE SUGGESTS THAT AS THE DAY PROGRESSES PRECIPITATION WILL BECOME MORE CONVECTIVE. WHILE THIS INHERENTLY STARTS TO DIMINISH PRECIPITATION DISTRIBUTION AT ANY ONE TIME...THERE IS ENOUGH STORM MOTION AND COVERAGE TO MAINTAIN LIKELY POPS. SNOW LEVELS NEAR 7500FT PRE-FRONTAL ARE FORECAST TO FALL TO BETWEEN 6000-6500FT AS THE DAY PROGRESSES. ROADS EVEN IN SOUTHWEST WYOMING ARE CURRENTLY JUST WET. SOME BRIEF IMPACT DUE TO SLUSH POSSIBLE ON HIGHER PASSES BUT SOLAR INSOLATION AND INITIALLY WARM ROADS SHOULD MITIGATE MOST OF THE IMPACT. 09Z SHORT RANGE ENSEMBLES SHOW GREATER INSTABILITY AND THUNDER PROBABILITIES THAN PRIOR RUNS. UPDATED TO ADD ISOLATED THUNDER TO THE FORECAST...WITH A THUNDERSTORM ALREADY MOVING THROUGH DAVIS COUNTY. HIGH TEMPERATURES LOOKED GOOD...ADJUSTED TEMPERATURE CURVE WITH OBSERVATIONS AND LAMP GUIDANCE. PREVIOUS DISCUSSION FOLLOWS... A LOW AMPLITUDE TROF IS MOVING INTO THE GREAT BASIN EARLY THIS MORNING AND IS FORECAST TO CROSS THE CWA DURING THE DAY. THIS WAVE SENDS A COLD FRONT THRU NRN/CENTRAL UT TODAY PASSING SLC AROUND MID MORNING WITH A BAND OF PRECIP ACROSS THE NORTH. AT THIS TIME IT APPEARS THE MOST WIDESPREAD PRECIP WILL BE STARTING WITH THE FRONT AND LINGERING INTO THE AFTN THEN TURNING MORE OROGRAPHIC AND SHOWERY. SNOW TOTALS IN THE MTNS SHOULD BE MOSTLY 6 INCHES OR LESS THROUGH THIS EVENING AND EXPECT LITTLE IMPACT ON TRAVEL AS MOST OF THIS FALLS DURING THE DAYLIGHT HOURS AND ROAD SURFACES ARE STARTING FAIRLY WARM. A SECOND SHORT WAVE SENDS A WARM FRONT THRU NRN UT TUE MORNING THEN A COLD FRONT THRU THE ENTIRE CWA TUE NIGHT. PRECIP WITH THE WARM FRONT WILL BE LIMITED TO AREAS MAINLY NORTH OF ABOUT I-80 AND ANY SUPPORT FOR SHOWERS ALONG THE COLD FRONT QUICKLY WANES ONCE IT REACHES CENTRAL UT. A LITTLE SNOW COULD REACH DOWN TO THE BENCHES IN SALT LAKE AND DAVIS COUNTIES EARLY TUE AS WELL AS THE CACHE VALLEY BUT EXPECT NO ACCUMULATION. THE MTNS WILL PICK UP SEVERAL MORE INCHES BUT WITH LITTLE IMPACT ANYWHERE SOUTH OF ABOUT LOGAN SUMMIT AND NOT MUCH EVEN THERE. A FEW SHOWERS COULD LINGER OVER THE NORTH WED WITH A COOL DRY NORTHERLY FLOW FORECAST FOR THE REST OF THE CWA. LOCAL GUSTY WINDS ARE POSSIBLE IN THE USUAL DOWNSLOPE AREAS BUT SPEEDS WILL STAY SUB ADVISORY. HIGH PRESSURE IS PROGGED TO MOVE BACK IN STRONGLY BEHIND THE EXITING TROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT/EARLY THURSDAY WHICH SHOULD BRING AN END TO ANY LINGERING SHOWERS ACROSS NORTHERN UTAH. THE STRENGTHENING RIDGE WILL ALLOW FOR A QUICK WARMING TREND FOR THE LATTER HALF OF THE WEEK WITH MAXES ONCE AGAIN CLIMBING TO AT LEAST 15F ABOVE SEASONAL NORMS FOR THE UPCOMING WEEKEND. GLOBAL MODELS CONTINUE TO INDICATE A STORM SYSTEM OFF THE CALIFORNIA COAST IMPACTING THE STATE EARLY NEXT WEEK. HOWEVER...EC/GFS DISAGREE ON THE DETAILS AND RUN-TO-RUN CONSISTENCY REMAINS QUITE POOR. LATEST GFS IS MORE FAVORABLE FOR PRECIPITATION...BRINGING THE SYSTEM DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STATE SUNDAY NIGHT/MONDAY AS THE CLOSED LOW BECOMES AN OPEN WAVE. EC IS A BIT SLOWER WITH THE SYSTEM AND TRACKS IT ACROSS SOUTHERN ARIZONA AS AN OPEN WAVE. REGARDLESS...HAVE ADDED SOME POPS IN FOR DAY 7 AS ALL GUIDANCE FOR THAT PERIOD INDICATES AT LEAST SOME INSTABILITY. && .AVIATION...PERIODS OF CEILINGS BELOW 7000FT WILL BE POSSIBLE AT THE SLC TERMINAL THROUGH TODAY...AS SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE ACROSS NORTHERN UTAH. MVFR CONDITIONS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE IF A HEAVIER STORM MOVES DIRECTLY OVER THE TERMINAL. NORTHWEST WINDS ARE GENERALLY EXPECTED TO PREVAIL THROUGH AT LEAST 04Z TUESDAY...BUT THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF ERRATIC WINDS DUE TO SHOWER ACTIVITY. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...NONE. WY...NONE. && PUBLIC...ROGOWSKI/WILENSKY/TRAPHAGAN AVIATION...SCHOENING 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 839 AM MDT MON MAR 23 2015 UTZ001>016-019>021-517-518-WYZ021-241400- 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- 839 AM MDT MON MAR 23 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE WESTERN TWO THIRDS OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT VALLEY RAIN SHOWERS AND MOUNTAIN RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE NORTHERN OUTLOOK AREA TODAY. SNOW LEVELS WILL LOWER TO AROUND 6500 FEET BY MIDDAY WITH MOSTLY LIGHT ACCUMULATION IN THE MOUNTAINS. GUSTY WINDS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE WEST DESERT...SOUTHWEST WYOMING AND THE UINTA BASIN. SHOWERS WILL TAPER OFF THIS EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY ANOTHER ROUND OF VALLEY RAIN AND MOUNTAIN SNOW IS EXPECTED ACROSS THE NORTHERN OUTLOOK AREA TUESDAY THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT BRINGING ADDITIONAL LIGHT SNOW ACCUMULATION ABOVE ABOUT 6000 FEET. DRY CONDITIONS WITH A WARMING TREND ARE EXPECTED FOR THE LATTER PART OF THE WEEK. .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) FOR INFORMATION ON POTENTIAL ROAD TRAVEL IMPACTS VISIT... HTTP://WWW.UDOTTRAFFIC.UTAH.GOV/ROADWEATHERFORECAST.ASPX
The Salt Lake City radar (KMTX), 1 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:14 UTC.
1 high wind, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Great Salt Lake Marina sensor recorded a peak wind gust of 59 mph ahead of the cold front.
Thunderstorms that formed near the cold front helped produce a 58 mph wind gust at the Promontory Point sensor.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, March 2015
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: 567975, 567974.