An unsettled weather pattern persisted during much of the month of September. This resulted in above normal precipitation for much of eastern Utah.
Every event with a place to put it; 6 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.
An unsettled weather pattern persisted during much of the month of September. This resulted in above normal precipitation for much of eastern Utah. This allowed the drought conditions to improve in some areas.
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 Aug 31, 10:04 PM MST, 1 hour 56 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Grand Junction CO 1104 PM MDT Wed Aug 31 2022 .SHORT TERM...(Tonight through Thursday night) Issued at 328 PM MDT Wed Aug 31 2022 Some light showers are popping over all the ridges, a bit better coverage than earlier anticipated. This could be due to the weak shortwave that is moving across Nebraska and extending west into the Front Range, sparking a bit more convection with the heating of the day and instability in place. The atmosphere is still plenty dry as indicated by the 12Z GJT sounding with a precipitable water (PWAT) value of 0.51 inches. Strong inverted V as well with DCAPE of 1531 J/kg, so any storms that do form are expected to produce more gusty outflow winds than rain. The best storm activity seems to be over the southern San Juans as expected with storms drifting southward off the high terrain. Better moisture remains across the Four Corners and southern valleys with PWAT near or slightly above 0.75 inches, while the rest of the CWA from the tops of the San Juans and Abajos and northward have PWAT of less than 0.5 inches. Any showers forming over the northern and central ridges are very short-lived and collapsing almost as soon as they form and drift off the terrain. The NAMNest and NSSLWRF model seem to be pinpointing this convection better than most models. Regardless, temperatures are continuing to climb with highs reaching about 10 degrees above normal, with high pressure ridge building out west. Mostly sunny skies are really being seen across most lower valleys with exception of the foothills of the southwest Colorado valleys where storms are drifting off the southern San Juans. Expect a quick downturn to convection once sunset rolls around underneath the high pressure and clearing skies with excellent radiational cooling overnight. The high pressure ridge is expected to expand a bit east and north as this shortwave exits, leaving much of the west very dry with a dry northerly flow over our CWA. Not expecting as much convection as today, but that's not saying too much. However, should be isolated coverage at best across mainly the southern San Juans with gusty winds the likely benefactor. The heat gets cranking with 90s expected in most lower valleys and triple digit heat in the lower desert valleys of east-central and southeast Utah as well as western portions of the Grand Valley. This hot and dry trend looks to last through the upcoming holiday weekend. More on this in the Long Term section below. .LONG TERM...(Friday through Wednesday) Issued at 328 PM MDT Wed Aug 31 2022 Labor Day weekend, long recognized as the close of summer, will feel more like deep summer this weekend with a building ridge of high pressure camped out over the Great Basin. Isoheights are depicted in the deterministic models to continue increasing from Friday into Sunday. Numerical guidance continues to push 3 digit temperatures this weekend across the Grand Valley and Red Rock country of eastern Utah. Grand Junction Airport holds two 100 degree record highs in September: 1st and 4th. Surpassing one of the other upper 90's records should be fairly easy with the pattern this weekend. Precipitation concerns under this regime will be confined to terrain driven activity, mostly across the San Juans. Weak steering flow should keep storms attached to the higher terrain and low moisture values will keep rainfall rates in check, should a few isolated storms develop. A weak perturbation shows up in models on Saturday afternoon and will drive some more widespread convection across the southern mountains. Model resolution makes this a wait and see event, but a few storms have managed to break through today in the San Juans, so I wouldn't rule this out continuing into the long term forecast. Persistence will rule the weekend forecast. However, moving into Labor Day and the work week beyond, models begin to diverge and forecast confidence wanes. An approaching series of waves in the northeast Pacific is being advertised to come ashore along the British Columbia coast beginning Sunday morning. Models depict these waves eroding isoheights and breaking down the ridge camped out over the western U.S. With such an anomalously strong ridge, I hesitate to bite on its timely exit, especially considering the northward track of these Pacific waves. Reasonable expectations are there for temperatures to remain above normal to start September. With a lengthy duration of low relative humidities and warm temperatures, critical fire weather conditions will possibly return to a few zones next week, provided we can increase gradients enough to get some gusty winds. For now, anomalous high pressure and broken temperature records will be the topic around the weather water cooler. && .AVIATION...(For the 06Z TAFS through 06Z Thursday night) Issued at 1103 PM MDT Wed Aug 31 2022 High pressure overhead maintains clear skies with light, terrain driven winds overnight. Isolated storms may clip the southeastern tip of the CWA over the southern San Juans Thursday afternoon, otherwise VFR conditions prevail. && .GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CO...None. UT...None. && SHORT TERM...MDA LONG TERM...LTB AVIATION...TGJT
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Grand Junction CO 240 AM MDT Wed Aug 31 2022 COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-011200- 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- 240 AM MDT Wed Aug 31 2022 This hazardous weather outlook is for eastern Utah and western Colorado. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight A weak disturbance will just clip southern portions of the forecast this afternoon and increase chances for some convection to form. This wave will be responsible for an isolated shower or storm over the San Juans and along the spine of the Continental Divide. The biggest concern will be some gusty outflow winds under any convection that forms. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Thursday through Tuesday A few showers and storms will be possible each afternoon and evening over the San Juans and Continental Divide. Coverage remains very low. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will not be needed.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
6 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
The extreme (D3) drought conditions in the far east-central corner of the zone improved to the severe (D2) category by the end of the month. Elsewhere, severe conditions persisted.
The status of the drought remained unchanged through the month of September. Severe (D2) conditions persisted across all but the far eastern portion of the zone where moderate (D1) drought prevailed.
The status of the drought remained unchanged through the month of September. The severe (D2) drought persisted across all but the far western tier of the zone where extreme (D3) conditions lingered.
The status of the drought remained unchanged through the month of September. Severe (D2) drought persisted across all but the far southwest corner of the zone where extreme (D3) conditions prevailed.
The status of the drought remained unchanged through the month of September. Extreme (D3) drought persisted over the far western corner of the zone with severe (D2) conditions elsewhere through the end of the month.
The status of the drought remained unchanged through the month of September. Extreme (D3) conditions persisted across the western portion of the zone with severe (D2) conditions over the central zones. Meanwhile, moderate (D1) conditions prevailed across the far eastern portion of the zone through the end of the month.
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, September 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: 1051517, 1051518, 1051519, 1051520, 1051521, 1056662.