Low level moisture remained trapped across the region in the wake of a departing system. This led to the development of dense fog across the Eastern Uinta Basin.
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The episode as NWS GJT wrote it up.
Low level moisture remained trapped across the region in the wake of a departing system. This led to the development of dense fog across the Eastern Uinta Basin.
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 Dec 9, 4:27 PM MST, 1 hour 23 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Grand Junction CO 427 PM MST Fri Dec 9 2022 .SHORT TERM...(Tonight through Saturday night) Issued at 248 PM MST Fri Dec 9 2022 Water vapor is showing a distinct wave moving across the Wyoming Rockies this afternoon. We had some light warm advective snow on the leading edge of this system with minimal accumulations. Snow will continue through the evening but become a bit more convective in nature as the cold air aloft moves through. This means an uptick in snow rates but this will be out of here before anything significant can fall. Looks like a few inches over the peaks of the Park Range will be on the high end of things. Otherwise the forecasting challenge will be low clouds and stratus hanging out in the Uinta Basin and temperatures across the board. See now reason to stray from persistence with the stratus rebounding across the U.Basin overnight again. The biggest question will be how widespread is the dense fog and this is definitely a weak point in my forecast abilities. Persistence again would favor more dense fog forming but in no way to have the courage to hoist an advisory at this point in the afternoon. Something for the next shifts to monitor. The high res models and associated bufkit sounding to favor a repeat of this morning. Otherwise once this wave passes we will have a period of rather quiet weather until the next storm...a big one...will arrives late in the weekend. Temperatures will be highly dependent on clouds both aloft and lingering off the surface...and also the strength of the inversions aloft. Temperatures overall don't look quite as cold as last night but some of the cold pools could prove me wrong. Increasing moisture aloft Saturday night and continued WAA should help for warmer temperatures at elevation ahead of the warmest day of the forecast on Sunday. .LONG TERM...(Sunday through Friday) Issued at 248 PM MST Fri Dec 9 2022 The outlook for the coming week starts with the warmest day of the week Sunday. High temperatures will be five to ten degrees above normal with gusty southwest winds ahead of the approaching winter system. Enjoy the warm day because it will be the last a while. Models are in good agreement with the deep, cold core low moving onshore over southern Oregon and Northern California Sunday morning, and dropping into the Great Basin by Sunday evening supported by a strong arctic jet and a jet streak on its southeastern flank pushing up into Utah. The strong westerly flow to the south of this low pulls significant moisture with it off the Pacific Ocean. Though the Sierra Nevada range wrings a lot of the moisture out of this weak atmospheric river (AR), the low pulls enough moisture inland to bring snow to eastern Utah and Western Colorado; not a particularly big, deep snow, but still a significant snow storm with impacts. As this low continues to track east into northern Utah, the left exit region of the jet streak moves over northeastern Utah around midnight Sunday, kicking off convective activity over the Uinta Mountains which spreads southeast across the region as the left exit region transits the area by noon Monday. Look for wide spread snow showers across the higher terrain Monday and light rain showers in the lower valleys. Some of the snow showers will be heavy at times causing roads to become icy and snowpacked through the day in the high country. Overnight Monday, the low track over the northern half of the region with the associated cold front transiting the region west to east between about midnight and 6AM. Expect gusty winds and a period of heavy snow with the frontal passage. The roads in the lower warm valleys may experience flash freezing early Tuesday morning as this front moves through, possibly making morning commute treacherous on ice. Tuesdays temperatures across the region will be 10 to 20 degrees below normal behind the front. As the low kicks out over the Plains Tuesday, wrap around moisture will keep snow showers going in the northern and central Colorado mountains Tuesday into Wednesday, finishing up in the Elkhead Mountains and the Park Range Wednesday night. Beyond Wednesday, the model guidance diverges, but tend to cluster around a ridge over the Gulf of Alaska keeping a northerly flow over the Rocky Mountain and Great Basin, bringing cold air out of northern Canada down over the region. This will keep temperatures well below normal through the remainder of work week with morning lows in the single digits to below zero and afternoon highs not even reaching the freezing point in the lower valleys. You'll want to dress warm next week. Stay tuned as the forecast for next week matures so you can plan accordingly. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Saturday evening) Issued at 424 PM MST Fri Dec 9 2022 LIFR to MVFR cigs and vsby will linger over KVEL through the night. Otherwise, generally VFR conditions with passing mid to high level cloudiness will be in place over northern and central Colorado TAF sites. && .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CO...None. UT...None. && SHORT TERM...15 LONG TERM...DB AVIATION...TGJT
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Grand Junction CO 429 AM MST Fri Dec 9 2022 COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-101130- 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- 429 AM MST Fri Dec 9 2022 This hazardous weather outlook is for eastern Utah and western Colorado. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Scattered light snow showers are expected over the northern mountains of eastern Utah and western Colorado this afternoon and into this evening as a weak disturbance passes over the area. Accumulations are expected to be light and localized with 1 to 3 inches possible over portions of the Elkhead and Park Mountains. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Saturday through Thursday Significant snowfall is possible late Sunday night through Tuesday as a strong winter storm moves through the area. Early indications suggests a foot or more of new snow across the mountains and up to 5 inches in the high valleys during this timeframe. Moisture wrapping around the exiting storm system may bring an additional few inches to the northern mountains through the middle of next week. .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.
Dense fog was observed across the Eastern Uinta Basin including at the Vernal Regional Airport as visibility was reduced to less than one quarter of a mile for several hours that evening and into the next morning.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, December 2022
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: 1060383.