Low level moisture trapped at the surface due to a recent winter storm resulted in areas of dense fog in southeast Utah.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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 GJT wrote it up.
Low level moisture trapped at the surface due to a recent winter storm resulted in areas of dense fog in southeast Utah.
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 Grand Junction, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 4, 3:55 PM MST, 5 hours 5 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 355 PM MST THU FEB 4 2016 .UPDATE... ISSUED AT 339 PM MST THU FEB 4 2016 THE SPLITTING TROUGH IS MOVING THROUGH THE AREA AND THE EXPECTED SNOWFALL IS COMING TO FRUITION. FORECASTS WERE UPDATED TO MOVE CATEGORICAL PRECIPITATION /GREATER THAN AN 80% CHANCE/ ACROSS WESTERN CO THROUGH THIS EVENING. && .SHORT TERM...(THIS EVENING THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT) ISSUED AT 110 PM MST THU FEB 4 2016 WEAK SPLITTING WAVE WILL PASS THIS AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING. IT LACKS MUCH MOISTURE...FORCING...EVEN MUCH COLD ADVECTION BELOW 500MB. WHAT IT DOES HAVE IS SNOW EFFICIENT TEMPERATURES FROM 700MB DOWN INTO THE COLD VALLEYS. THE WEAK TROUGH PASSAGE WILL EFFICIENTLY PRODUCE LIGHT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ACROSS THE SOUTH THIS AFTERNOON. THE NORTHERN SPLIT WORKS INTO NE UTAH THIS LATE AFTERNOON AND ACROSS NW CO THIS EARLY EVENING ELONGATING DOWN THE COLORADO SPINE THROUGH THE EVENING. SNOW AMOUNTS STILL LOOK SUB- ADVISORY BUT HAVE RAISED POPS FOR MOST LOCATIONS. BY MIDNIGHT IT BECOMES MAINLY AN OROGRAPHIC NW FLOW EVENT WITH LIGHT SNOW ENDING BY FRIDAY AFTERNOON. THIS WAVE MAY HELP TO ERODE VALLEY INVERSIONS A BIT THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...BUT ANY TEMPERATURE MODIFICATION WILL BE SHORT LIVED. AS COLD AIR POOLS AGAIN FRIDAY NIGHT UNDER WEAK SHORT-WAVE RIDGING. .LONG TERM...(SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY) ISSUED AT 110 PM MST THU FEB 4 2016 SATURDAY...THE RIDGE SHIFTS QUICKLY EAST AS A WAVE DROPS THROUGH THE NORTHERN ROCKIES. LIGHT SNOWFALL IS POSSIBLE IN THE NW CO MTNS INTO SUNDAY. ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE LIGHT. NW WINDS WILL BE GUSTY OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN ALONG THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE. THE EASTERN VALLEYS WILL SEE SLIGHTLY MILDER TEMPERATURES UNDER CLOUDS AND GRADIENT WINDS ALOFT. THE NEW WEEK LOOKS DRY AND STAGNANT AS AN HIGHLY AMPLIFIED RIDGE BUILDS ALONG THE WEST COAST THEN SLOWLY PROGRESSES INTO THE GREAT BASIN ON WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. SLOPE TEMPERATURES WILL ENJOY A NICE WARMING TREND WHILE THE VALLEYS WILL HOLD ONTO THEIR INVERSIONS. WITH WIDESPREAD SNOW COVER...THE GUIDANCE VALLEY WARMING TREND WAS SLOWED THROUGH THE LONG TERM. && .AVIATION...(FOR THE 00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z FRIDAY EVENING) ISSUED AT 339 PM MST THU FEB 4 2016 A FAST-MOVING SHORTWAVE TROUGH WILL SPREAD SNOW AND LOW CIGS ACROSS THE AREA THIS EVENING. MTS IN CO WILL BE FQTLY OBSCURED WITH MVFR CIGS AND VSBY AND BRIEF IFR AT KASE...KEGE...KRIL AND KGJT.AND CIGS BELOW ILS CUTOFFS AT KMTJ...KTEX AND KDRO. CONDITIONS WILL IMPROVE RAPIDLY AFTER ABOUT 08Z WITH VFR CONDITIONS DOMINATING AFTER 15Z. && .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CO...NONE. UT...NONE. && UPDATE...CC SHORT TERM...99 LONG TERM...99 AVIATION...CC
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
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 dense fog. Local standard time, as filed.
Dense fog occurred in the Moab area. The visibility dropped to a quarter mile at the Canyonlands Airport.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, February 2016
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: 664357.