An inversion set up over the Uintah Basin and caused dense fog to form.
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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 GJT wrote it up.
An inversion set up over the Uintah Basin and caused dense fog to form.
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 Jan 26, 9:30 PM MST, 5 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 930 PM MST TUE JAN 26 2016 .SHORT TERM...(TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT) ISSUED AT 401 PM MST TUE JAN 26 2016 HIGH PRESSURE CONTINUES TO AMPLIFY OVER THE WESTERN US AND WILL FILTER IN WARMER AIR ALOFT OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS. THIS WILL JUST STABILIZE THE ATMOSPHERE FURTHER AND CREATE STEEP INVERSIONS IN PROTECTED VALLEYS. EXPECTING FOG TO REDEVELOP IN THE EASTERN UINTAH BASIN TONIGHT...AS WELL AS NEAR THE CRAIG AREA AND GUNNISON BASIN. IR SATELLITE INDICATES THE STRATUS IN THE EASTERN UINTAH BASIN HAS BARELY DISINTEGRATED DURING THE DAY TODAY...AND THERE IS NO REASON THAT THE STRATUS WILL NOT LOWER AGAIN TONIGHT. MORNING LOW CLOUDS AND STRATUS WILL PERSIST ACROSS THE EASTERN UINTAH BASIN THROUGH MIDDAY WITH PATCHY FOG ACROSS NORTHWEST COLORADO AND NEAR EAGLE. OTHERWISE DRY CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT. SHOULD SEE ANOTHER ROUND OF LOW CLOUDS AND FOG ACROSS THE EASTERN UINTA BASIN WITH INVERSIONS REMAINING STRONG IN THIS AREA. TEMPS WILL CONTINUE TO SLOWLY MODIFY...BUT STILL ON THE COOL SIDE OF SEASONAL NORMS. .LONG TERM...(THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY) ISSUED AT 401 PM MST TUE JAN 26 2016 LITTLE CHANGE THURSDAY AND FRIDAY WITH DRY WEATHER AND A GRADUAL BUMP IN TEMPS EXPECTED AS HIGH PRESSURE HOLDS IN PLACE OVER THE WESTERN U.S. OVERNIGHT MINS WILL REMAIN COLD...ESPECIALLY IN THE SNOW COVERED VALLEYS WHERE INVERSIONS WILL BE THE STRONGEST. HAVE CONTINUED TO UNDERCUT MOS GUIDANCE IN OUR FAVORED COLDER AREAS. THE PATTERN STARTS TO BREAKDOWN AS THE WEEKEND APPROACHES AS A SERIES OF STRONG PACIFIC WAVES APPROACHES THE WESTERN U.S. STILL WAITING FOR BETTER MODEL CONSENSUS BEFORE RAISING CONFIDENCE LEVELS BUT SIGNAL IS THAT PRECIPITATION...POTENTIALLY HEAVY... WILL BE MOVING BACK INTO OUR FORECAST AREA THIS WEEKEND AND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. THE QUESTION IS TO WHAT EXTENT AND EXACTLY WHEN. MODELS INITIALLY DRIVE THE FIRST IN A LONG SERIES OF SYSTEMS ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN LATE FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY. SUBTLE SHIFTS IN STRENGTHENING WESTERN FLOW WILL SHIFT FOCUS OF THE HEAVIEST MOUNTAIN SNOWS AND VALLEY SHOWERS FROM NORTH TO SOUTH AS THE WAVES MOVE ACROSS. THE ECMWF IS HINTING AT A LITTLE STRONGER ENERGY DIGGING THE WESTERLY FLOW A BIT RESULTING IN A MORE SOUTHERLY TRACK AND FEWER BREAKS IN THE MOISTURE FLOW. THE EC SCENARIO WOULD RESULT IN MORE ROBUST SNOWFALL AMOUNTS...ESPECIALLY OVER OUR SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS...ALTHOUGH IT IS A BIT WARMER AND WE COULD HAVE SOME PROBLEMS WITH SNOW LEVELS. THE GFS SOLUTION...WHILE STILL WET...HAS THAT DRIER AIR FLOWING IN ON SATURDAY...WHICH BRINGS A BREAK IN PRECIPITATION. THINGS GET REALLY INTERESTING BY THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW WEEK AS ENERGY DIVES INTO THE GREAT BASIN...EVENTUALLY CLOSING OFF A LOW THAT TRACK JUST SOUTH OF THE FOUR CORNERS MONDAY AND TUESDAY. ABUNDANT MOISTURE AVAILABLE WITH STRONG DYNAMIC FORCING EXPECTED. TRACKING AND TIMING ISSUES PERSIST...SO CONFIDENCE IS STILL BELOW FIFTY PERCENT. STAY TUNED AS WE LOCK ON TO THE FINER DETAILS OF THIS COMPLEX WINTER STORM. && .AVIATION...(FOR THE 06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z WEDNESDAY NIGHT) ISSUED AT 930 PM MST TUE JAN 26 2016 STILL WAITING FOR THE DENSE FOG TO DEVELOP AT THE UINTA BASIN AS IT APPEARS DOWNSLOPE WINDS MAY BE HOLDING THIS BACK ATTM. STILL GOING TO BE PESSIMISTIC AND GO FOR LIFR CONDITIONS AT KVEL IN THE FIRST SIX HOURS OF THE NEW FORECAST WHICH WILL PERSIST INTO LATE MORNING. OTHERWISE VFR CONDITIONS SHOULD PREVAIL AT AREA FORECAST TERMINALS. && .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CO...NONE. UT...DENSE FOG ADVISORY UNTIL 11 AM MST WEDNESDAY FOR UTZ024. && SHORT TERM...JAM/JDC LONG TERM...JDC AVIATION...TGJT
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 1121 AM MST TUE JAN 26 2016 COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-271830- LOWER YAMPA RIVER BASIN-CENTRAL YAMPA RIVER BASIN- ROAN AND TAVAPUTS PLATEAUS-ELKHEAD AND PARK MOUNTAINS- UPPER YAMPA RIVER BASIN-GRAND VALLEY-DEBEQUE TO SILT CORRIDOR- CENTRAL COLORADO RIVER BASIN-GRAND AND BATTLEMENT MESAS- GORE AND ELK MOUNTAINS/CENTRAL MOUNTAIN VALLEYS- CENTRAL GUNNISON AND UNCOMPAHGRE RIVER BASIN- WEST ELK AND SAWATCH MOUNTAINS-FLAT TOPS- UPPER GUNNISON RIVER VALLEY-UNCOMPAHGRE PLATEAU AND DALLAS DIVIDE- NORTHWEST SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS-SOUTHWEST SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS- PARADOX VALLEY/LOWER DOLORES RIVER- FOUR CORNERS/UPPER DOLORES RIVER-ANIMAS RIVER BASIN- SAN JUAN RIVER BASIN-SOUTHEAST UTAH-EASTERN UINTA MOUNTAINS- EASTERN UINTA BASIN-TAVAPUTS PLATEAU-ARCHES/GRAND FLAT- LA SAL AND ABAJO MOUNTAINS-CANYONLANDS/NATURAL BRIDGES- 1121 AM MST TUE JAN 26 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT PATCHY DENSE FOG WILL DECREASE VISIBILITY TO LESS THAN ONE HALF MILE AT TIMES ACROSS THE EASTERN UINTA BASIN AND NEAR CRAIG AGAIN TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THERE IS A CHANCE OF SNOW SATURDAY AND SUNDAY...MAINLY OVER THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE AREA...SPREADING ACROSS ALL OF EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 dense fog. Local standard time, as filed.
The Vernal ASOS reported visibilities less than 1/4 mile for the morning hours.
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, January 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: 659984.