Wildfire in Utah, June 26 to 30, 2026

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Salt Lake City UT
405 AM MDT Fri Jun 26 2026

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Widespread and significant critical fire weather conditions will
  occur through Saturday across nearly the entire state.

- Extreme fire weather conditions will result in a Particularly
  Dangerous Situation through late this evening across for the
  central and southern mountains and southwest Utah.

- A strong cold front will cross northern and central Utah Sunday
  bringing temperatures near 15 to 20 degrees below normal Sunday
  to northern Utah and around 5 to 15 degrees below normal to
  southwest and south central Utah.

- Critical fire weather conditions will continue through Sunday
  across southeastern Utah ahead of the cold front.

&&

.DISCUSSION, Issued 1108 PM MDT Thu Jun 25 2026...

A near zonal flow is in place over Utah this
evening while upstream, an upper trough is moving onto the PacNW
coast. Scattered convection this afternoon brought some strong
storms which produced locally heavy rain, gusty winds, and large
hail. However, with instability waning with the loss of daytime
heating and drier air moving into the area, only some weaker
showers and isolated thunderstorms remain in place at this time,
and even these will continue to diminish over the next few hours.

For Friday, the airmass will continue to dry fairly significantly
as southwest flow increases ahead of the upstream trough. Winds
will be fairly strong, with gusts up to 50 mph. A Wind advisory
is in effect for the valleys and mountain valleys of west-central
through southern Utah. Additionally, combined with low humidities
and dry fuels, these winds will bring critical fire weather
conditions to much of Utah, with Red Flag Warnings in place. For
the central and southern mountains and mountain valleys and for
the southwest valleys, higher-end critical fire weather
conditions, which would pose a more significant threat to life and
property, have prompted an upgrade to a "Particularly Dangerous
Situation" Red Flag Warning.

One more day of above normal temperatures can be expected Friday
ahead of a cold front which will move into northern Utah Friday
afternoon through Friday evening. This front will weaken fairly
quickly as it moves into central Utah Friday night. Some showers
and thunderstorms are expected to develop near and behind the cold
front Friday night into Saturday morning. Temperatures on Saturday
will fall to 5-10 degrees below normal for Saturday across
northern Utah. Even southern Utah will see temperatures up to 5
degrees below normal.

With a trailing disturbance carving in behind the initial
shortwave and reinforcing the mean trough, southwest flow will
strengthen once again across the area. This will bring another
round of critical fire weather conditions to the area and Red Flag
Warnings continue through Saturday as a result. However, because
humidities are forecast to trend higher for Saturday, the
"Particularly Dangerous Situation" Red Flag Warning was not
extended into Saturday, just the standard Red Flag Warnings.

A stronger cold front will then push into the area Saturday night.
The front will make it to southwest Utah by Sunday afternoon, but
southeastern Utah will still see gusty prefrontal winds. Critical
fire weather conditions remain possible for this area for Sunday,
and later shifts will need to consider extending portions of the
existing Red Flag Warnings.

Behind the cold front, temperatures will fall well below normal
for Sunday (15-22 degrees in the north and 5-12 degrees in the
south), and most northern Utah valleys will likely fail to reach
70 degrees for a high temperature. Showers can be expected across
northern Utah near and behind the cold front once again Saturday
night into Sunday, with even a potential for a dusting of snow on
the higher ridgelines. Colder valleys such as the Cache Valley
and Wasatch Back may see frost Sunday night.

The airmass will trend warmer and drier again for the early to
middle part of next week. However, with a persistent southwesterly
flow, at least localized critical fire weather conditions will
remain in place for the southeast and east-central valleys.

&&

.AVIATION...KSLC...Southeasterly winds will persist overnight,
becoming gusty after 13z and continuing to increase through the
afternoon. Winds may further increase to as high as 40kts shortly
before a cold front arriving between 01-02z, which will produce a
quick transition to strong northwesterly winds. VFR conditions
will prevail outside of any blowing dust. Wildfire smoke may also
cause slantwise VIS reductions at times.

REST OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING...Southerly winds will
gradually increase during the overnight hours, especially
increasing after sunrise. Southwesterly winds will be very gusty
during the afternoon, reaching broadly 30-45kts across the area.
An approaching cold front will push into NW UT by late afternoon,
producing a quick transition to strong westerly to northwesterly
winds. However, this front will likely dissipate before reaching
south of KPVU. While most sites will remain VFR, some sites could
see VIS reductions at times due to blowing dust and/or wildfire
smoke.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER... A widespread and significant period of
critical fire weather conditions will occur across Utah Friday
into Saturday. Wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph will develop across much
of Utah by early Friday afternoon. This will combine with
humidities as low as 5 to 10 percent to bring widespread critical
fire weather conditions. For fire weather zones 493, 495 and 496,
these conditions will represent a Particularly Dangerous
Situation, where extreme fire weather conditions are expected.

The first of several cold fronts will reach far northwestern Utah
this afternoon, bringing a marked and strong wind shift to
portions of fire weather zone 478 near the Idaho and Nevada
borders. This front will weaken quickly across northern Utah but
will bring somewhat better overnight recoveries to areas north of
I-80 Friday night. South of I-80, recoveries will quickly shift
from poor to no recovery Friday night.

With a slight increase in moisture across the region Saturday,
minimum humidities will increase to around 10 to 15 percent in
most areas. Southwest winds with gusts to 40 to 50 mph will
redevelop across nearly the entire state by early Saturday
afternoon, bringing another period of critical fire weather
conditions to all zones with critical fuels.

A series of increasingly strong cold fronts will cross northern
Utah Sunday, reaching central Utah by Sunday afternoon. Ahead of
these cold fronts, southeastern Utah will continue to see wind
gusts around 30-40 mph, with humidities falling to around 5 to 10
percent Sunday. This area (fire weather zones 489, 494 and 498)
will continue to see critical fire weather conditions Sunday
afternoon and evening.

Much colder temperatures will build into the region behind this
cold front, with temperatures averaging around 10 to 20 degrees
below normal across northern Utah, 5 to 15 degrees below normal
across most of southern Utah.

As winds increase again Monday into Tuesday across eastern Utah,
locally critical to critical fire weather conditions will continue
to be possible.

&&

.SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
UT...Red Flag Warning from 9 AM this morning to midnight MDT Saturday
     night for UTZ478-479-482-484-488-492-495-497.

     Wind Advisory from 6 PM this evening to midnight MDT tonight for
     UTZ101.

     Red Flag Warning from 9 AM this morning to 9 PM MDT Sunday for
     UTZ489-494-498.

     Wind Advisory from 9 AM this morning to midnight MDT tonight for
     UTZ115-116-118-119-122-123-126>128.

     Red Flag Warning from 9 AM this morning to 3 AM MDT Sunday for
     UTZ493-496.

WY...None.
&&

Kruse/Cheng

For more information from NOAA's National Weather Service visit...
http://weather.gov/saltlakecity