A prolonged period of cool and unsettled weather at the end of December resulted in some improvement of the drought across east-central and northeast Utah.
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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.
A prolonged period of cool and unsettled weather at the end of December resulted in some improvement of the drought across east-central and northeast 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 Nov 30, 10:42 PM MST, 1 hour 18 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Grand Junction CO 1042 PM MST Tue Nov 30 2021 .SHORT TERM...(Tonight through Wednesday night) Issued at 441 PM MST Tue Nov 30 2021 The ever-persistent northwesterly flow will only continue to dominate much of the short term period. This will result in continued dry, benign weather across eastern Utah and western Colorado. Daytime highs this afternoon have been trending a couple to several degrees cooler than this time yesterday in the wake of the weak, progressive shortwave that moved through. Unfortunately, this has not been the case across our far southern zones with current readings sitting 3 to 6 degrees warmer than yesterday. Even with the introduction of slightly cooler temperatures up north, highs will still exceed the climatological norm for late November by 10 to 20 degrees. In fact, four of our COOP sites reported record high temperatures on Monday and that could once again be the case today for a couple of sites. Even with the mostly clear skies tonight, overnight lows will also trend on the mild side and sit several degrees above normal. On Wednesday, the area of high pressure over the Great Basin will shift slightly east in response to the progression of a weak Pacific trough inland over the northwestern CONUS. For us, though, Wednesday's weather will be a rinse and repeat of today with continued seasonably warm temperatures and mostly sunny skies with quiet, uneventful conditions persisting Wednesday night. .LONG TERM...(Thursday through Tuesday) Issued at 441 PM MST Tue Nov 30 2021 An elongated lobe of high pressure will sustain its position aloft through Thursday. However, a series of disturbances tracking across the Canadian provinces will finally suppress the amplitude of ridging overhead and force the packed height contours just north of the CWA to turn zonal. This will maintain consistent weather through the end of the week, with little fluctuation in high/low temperatures. As a result, high temperatures will be flirting with record high values through the first few days of December. Meanwhile, the first of two closed lows that have been meandering around the SoCal coast is expected to move inland by Friday. The initial system doesn't appear to impact the weather across the Western Slope much, and will traverse the Desert Southwest to our south. However, deterministic guidance favors the second closed low to stir things up over the southwest CONUS. Though minor discrepancies do persist, the 12Z ECMWF and GFS both draw the second low inland by Sunday, and transitioning into an open wave as it's absorbed with a trough deepening on the lee side of the Northern Rockies. The adjoined, and now, positively tilted trough would shift winds back from the northwest over the CWA, allowing a plume of Pacific moisture to nudge closer to the area. We're not expecting much in terms of precip just yet, but this does place the region downstream of another potential atmospheric river slamming into PacNW Sunday night. The Cascades and northern Rockies will get their fair share of moisture from said system, and the Colorado Rockies will have to tap into whatever's left thereafter. Regardless, this still looks to be the next best chance for any appreciable precipitation for the region. Fluctuations between model runs still leave a high level of uncertainty in timing/quantity of QPF, though Monday night into Tuesday continue to be the more favorable timeframe. In addition to moisture, a shortwave trough diving south of the Four Corners would bring a dip to these unseasonably warm temperatures...Keep those fingers crossed, snow lovers! && .AVIATION...(For the 06Z TAFS through 06Z Wednesday night) Issued at 1042 PM MST Tue Nov 30 2021 Light winds and scattered high clouds with VFR conditions will persist for the next 24 hours. && .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CO...None. UT...None. && SHORT TERM...MMS LONG TERM...ERW AVIATION...TGJT
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Grand Junction CO 258 AM MST Tue Nov 30 2021 COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-011000- 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- 258 AM MST Tue Nov 30 2021 This hazardous weather outlook is for eastern Utah and western Colorado. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will not be needed.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
7 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
The status of the drought remained unchanged through the month of December as extreme (D3) drought conditions persisted across the entirety of the zone.
The status of the drought remained unchanged across the zone through the month of December. The extreme (D3) drought continued over all but the far eastern portion of the zone where severe (D2) conditions remained.
The status of the drought remained unchanged through the month of December as extreme (D3) drought conditions persisted across the entirety of the zone.
The status of the drought improved across portions of the zone through the month of December. The extreme (D3) drought across the far western portion of the zone improved to the severe (D2) category. Meanwhile, the severe drought persisted across the central areas as the moderate (D1) drought continued across the far eastern portion of the zone.
The status of the drought improved across portions of the zone through the month of December. The extreme (D3) drought over the western half of the zone improved to the severe (D2) category. Meanwhile, the severe drought continued elsewhere.
The status of the drought improved across some of the zone through the month of December. The extreme (D3) drought across the western half of the zone improved to the severe (D2) category. Elsewhere, the severe (D2) drought continued through the end of the month.
The status of the drought improved across the majority of the zone through the month of December. The extreme (D3) drought across all but the far northwest corner of the zone improved to the severe (D2) category. The severe drought over the far northwest corner remained unchanged through the end of the month.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2021Every state in 2021This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, December 2021
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: 992554, 992555, 992556, 992557, 992558, 992559, 992560.