A person was killed clearing a roof of snow when an avalanche occurred.
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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 SLC wrote it up.
A person was killed clearing a roof of snow when an avalanche occurred.
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 Apr 17, 4:06 AM MST, 1 hour 54 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Salt Lake City UT 506 AM MDT Mon Apr 17 2023 .SYNOPSIS...Southwesterly flow will strengthen over the area today. This will result in warm temperatures, which will increase snowmelt once more with area creeks and rivers running high, fast, and cold. A colder spring storm will impact the area Tuesday into Wednesday, bringing accumulating mountain snow and some potential for rain on snow across northern Utah. && .SHORT TERM (THROUGH 12Z WEDNESDAY)...Southwesterly flow aloft has spread into the area ahead of a deepening upstream low pressure system making its way towards the PacNW Coast. Surface winds have also been enhanced across northwest through west-central Utah valleys, maintaining warm temperatures overnight. The southwest flow will increase through the afternoon hours today while clouds gradually thicken. While breezy are expected across the western valleys, winds should remain below Advisory criteria. The excellent mixing provided by the winds combined with a generally warm airmass over the area will maintain afternoon max temperatures today of 5- 10F above normal. As the upstream low makes its way onto the PacNW Coast, shortwave disturbances ejecting out ahead of it will push a weak cold front into northern Utah late this afternoon into this evening. This will serve as a focus for showers. However, owing to the dry low levels, it may take awhile for the column to moisten enough to produce measurable precipitation, but a few showers should develop by the evening hours. Initially, this will be valley rain and mountain snow, with mixed precipitation in between. Snow levels will gradually lower as colder air slowly works into the area overnight. As the front weakens and precipitation begins to taper off overnight, the axis of the main trough will approach from the west. This trough will take on a little bit of a negative tilt, and its axis should cross Utah late tomorrow morning into the afternoon. This trough axis will be accompanied by a reinforcing cold front with stronger baroclinicity, along with upper divergence associated the left exit region of the upper jet. This translates to stronger lift and a better chance for precipitation across northern Utah. However, precipitation will not be particularly long-lived, so snow accumulations will be very minor in most valleys and generally remain below advisory level in the mountains. Winds will be a bit stronger with this system, with some areas approaching Advisory criteria, mainly far southern Utah near the front, and eastern valleys in postfrontal environment. Max temperatures tomorrow will also fall 10-20F from today's highs. The weather will in general quiet down late tomorrow night. However, a mean cyclonic flow associated with a diffuse trough will remain in place and maintain unsettled weather over the area. .LONG TERM (After 12Z/6AM Wednesday)...A rather mild and quiet week ahead during the extended forecast period as broad ridging sits over the Great Basin region. Colder air aloft behind a trough system could leave lingering precip along the northern parts of the CWA but otherwise expect mostly dry conditions with a warming trend during the second half of the period. By the start of the extended period on Wednesday we will be beyond the trough axis of a large scale trough feature. This strong trough will have extended far south and brought rather cold air masses aloft that will create favorable conditions for lingering precipitation along the northern mountains of the CWA and potentially some showers making it to valley surfaces. Lingering showers likely phased out by early Friday as remnant low level moisture fades and orographic processes cease. Models currently overwhelmingly favor a broad ridge to sit overhead and build heights over Utah and SW Wyoming. This will allow for subsidence and clearing of skies to make for greater daytime heating as well as zonal/southwesterly flow to help drive warmer air back in over the weekend and into the beginning of the new work week. Beyond this deterministic models begin to hint towards a new PNW trough building that could nudge into the region by midweek. This is somewhat shown in ensemble clusters as well as ~50% of clusters involving this trough but far from a consensus on a arrival time. Regardless, the extended forecast period looks to be another slow step into spring like weather. && .HYDROLOGY...With a continued warming trend today, snowmelt will continue once again across Utah. Currently, the most significant concern is related to Emigration Creek. Emigration is expected to reach just above flood flow tonight and again Tuesday night. Although last night's crest ended up below what was forecast, those with interests along Emigration Creek should continue to prepare for several nights of significant rises, especially with rain on snow forecast tonight which will cause enhanced snowmelt. There is also potential for the Weber River near Plain City to crest near flood stage early Wednesday morning. At this time, there are no significant changes to the current hydrologic forecasts. && .AVIATION...KSLC...Southerly winds will persist this morning and forecast to increase over the morning and into the afternoon with the strong potential for wind gusts nearing 30mph. Northerly wind shift is forecasted for the afternoon hours but stronger gusts from the south could overall persist even with lingering showers. VFR skies are forecast with a mid-level cloud deck arriving tomorrow afternoon with some lingering showers embedded in them. .REST OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING...Southerly winds will persist this morning and forecast to increase over the morning and into the afternoon with the strong potential for wind gusts nearing 30mph across all terminals. Northerly wind shift is forecasted for the afternoon hours for the northern terminals but stronger gusts from the south could overall persist even with lingering showers. VFR skies are forecast with a mid-level cloud deck arriving tomorrow afternoon with more southern sites seeing more clear skies than the north. Showers move in with the clouds over northern UT by the late afternoon hours. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...None. WY...None. && Cheng/Selbig For more information from NOAA's National Weather Service visit... http://weather.gov/saltlakecity
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.
The body of a 50-year-old Holladay man was found buried in the snow following a presumed roof avalanche in Brighton.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avalanche, Wasatch Mountains South of I-80 | 2023-04-17 | 50 | Male | Permanent Structure | Indirect |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, April 2023
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: 1096152.