A cold and slow moving storm system passed through northern and central Utah at the beginning of 2017, with the heaviest snowfall in portions of the Wasatch Range, the Wasatch mountain valleys, and in Utah County.
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 and slow moving storm system passed through northern and central Utah at the beginning of 2017, with the heaviest snowfall in portions of the Wasatch Range, the Wasatch mountain valleys, and in Utah County.
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 1, 9:30 AM MST, 6 hours 30 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Salt Lake City UT 930 AM MST Sun Jan 1 2017 .SYNOPSIS...A cold upper level trough across the northern Rockies through the Pacific Northwest will affect portions of the Great Basin during the early portion of the week. The associated cold front will sweep south into central Utah by Monday, bringing snow to the northern half of Utah. && .DISCUSSION...Have made many generally minor tweaks for today. Temperature wise have lower the max temp forecast for the Wasatch Front and northwest desert today as the low overcast is not expected to break today as surface high along the Idaho-Utah border will keep a prevalent low level northerly flow in place despite the increase in the westerly 700mb flow to 25-30kts. In general, have lowered temps into mid or lower 20s. Farther south have also lower temps along the AZ border and Colorado River basin area as low clouds should shroud that area throughout the day as a weak moist southerly upslope flow is maintained. Satellite shows this extensive cloud cover already in place. Sky conditions across this area were increased to cloudy or mostly cloudy for the remainder of the day. Another area that temperatures were tweaked, was across the central and northern mountains above 6000 ft which is above the inversion. The 12Z SLC sounding showed an increase of about 2 degree C at 7-9000 ft today over yesterday's morning sounding. Therefore have pushed temps up 2-4 degrees F for the mountain valleys and mountains today. In addition, currently have clear skies above the valley gunk adding to the heating potential and should remain mostly sunny into the early afternoon before some clouds begin to develop as a trough from the northwest approaches. The advancement of this trough is somewhat slower than earlier 00Z model guidance, so have backed off on the onset of precip across northern Utah until late this afternoon along the Idaho border - which may still be too early - and this evening for the rest of northern portions of the CWA. && .AVIATION...IFR conditions are expected to continue at the SLC terminal through the morning hours, before improving to MVFR by early afternoon and lasting through early evening. However, there is a 30 percent chance that IFR levels continue into this evening. Light and variable winds are expected with speeds of less than 6 kts through 00Z. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...None. WY...None. && PUBLIC...Struthwolf AVIATION...Dewey For more information from NOAA's National Weather Service visit... http://weather.gov/saltlakecity For frequently asked questions about the Area Forecast Discussion visit... http://weather.gov/saltlakecity/general/afd_faqs.php
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 555 AM MST SUN JAN 1 2017 UTZ001>016-019>021-517-518-WYZ021-021300- 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- 555 AM MST SUN JAN 1 2017 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE WESTERN TWO THIRDS OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A COLD FRONT WILL ENTER FAR NORTHERN UTAH THIS AFTERNOON...THEN SWEEP SOUTH INTO CENTRAL UTAH LATE TONIGHT. SNOW WILL DEVELOP BEHIND THIS PASSING FRONT LATE THIS AFTERNOON WITH ACCUMULATING SNOWS EXPECTED ACROSS MUCH OF NORTHERN UTAH OVERNIGHT. SNOW WILL SPREAD INTO CENTRAL UTAH LATE TONIGHT WITH MINIMAL ACCUMULATIONS EXPECTED. THE PERSISTENT URBAN HAZE AND VALLEY FOG WILL BEGIN TO ERODE AS THE FRONT PASSES THROUGH NORTHERN UTAH LATER TODAY. MOST AREAS WILL BE SEE LITTLE OR NO FOG BEHIND THE FRONT WITH SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED AIR QUALITY HEADING INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY ACCUMULATING SNOW WILL CONTINUE ACROSS MUCH OF NORTHERN AND CENTRAL UTAH MONDAY. THE GREATEST ACCUMULATION WILL SHIFT INTO THE CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST MOUNTAINS. TRAVEL IMPACTS ARE LIKELY AT THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS AND POSSIBLY ALONG THE I-15 CORRIDOR. LIGHT SNOW WILL CONTINUE IN THE CENTRAL AND NORTHERN MOUNTAINS MONDAY NIGHT...THEN GRADUALLY DECREASE IN BOTH INTENSITY AND AREAL COVERAGE HEADING INTO TUESDAY. ANOTHER ROUND OF SNOW MAY IMPACT PORTIONS OF UTAH LATE IN THE WEEK. ACCUMULATING SNOW IS POSSIBLE ESPECIALLY LATE FRIDAY 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 FOR INFORMATION ON POTENTIAL ROAD TRAVEL IMPACTS VISIT... HTTP://WWW.UDOTTRAFFIC.UTAH.GOV/ROADWEATHERFORECAST.ASPX
3 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Storm total snowfall included 31 inches at Brighton Resort, 27 inches at Solitude Mountain Resort, 25 inches at Alta Ski Area, 23 inches at Park City Mountain Resort, and 22 inches at UDOT Provo Canyon.
Utah Valley was the hardest hit valley location with regards to snowfall, with storm totals of 18 inches of snow in Spanish Fork, 14 inches of snow in Springville, and 10 inches of snow at Provo BYU.
Storm total snowfall for the Wasatch mountain valleys included 15 inches at the Park City Library and 13 inches at both Deer Creek Dam and Heber City. The heaviest snowfall occurred during the early morning hours of January 3; this caused Park City schools to close for the day, the first snow day for the district in the last 15 years.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, January 2017
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: 676816, 676817, 676825.