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- A fast-moving storm may bring up to a foot of snow to parts of Utah's mountains.
- The storm will impact northern Utah Friday, moving to central and southern areas by early Saturday.
- Southern Utah's snowpack remains critically low, worsening drought conditions.
SALT LAKE CITY — An incoming winter storm has the potential to deliver up to a foot of new snow in parts of Utah's mountains, but its speed will likely prevent parts of the state from receiving much-needed moisture.
A "quick-moving" low-pressure system brewing off the California coast is slated to arrive in northern Utah Friday morning, providing a mix of valley rain and mountain snow, said KSL meteorologist Kristin Van Dyke. It will intensify across Utah's northern half in the afternoon as its core shifts across the state.
"Once that (precipitation) hits, just know that temperatures are going to be dropping quickly, and we might even see a little rain-snow mix with some light snow potentially for our benches," she said.
The system will begin to make its way into central Utah by Friday evening, lingering overnight into early Saturday. It's also expected to move into the southern mountains by Saturday morning. Some lingering mountain showers are possible in the mountains later Saturday, but most of the system will have cleared out by Saturday afternoon.
"This system gets in and out of here in a hurry," Van Dyke added.
Despite its speed, the storm is forecast to deliver 6-12 inches of snow across the Wasatch and West Uinta mountains. The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for the Western Uinta Mountains, which remains in effect through Friday night.
About 4-8 inches of snow in the central mountains and 1-3 inches in the southern mountains, as well. KSL Weather models show that valley communities could receive up to an inch of snow from the storm, but most locations along the Wasatch Front, central Utah and southwest Utah will end up with less than that.
Utah Department of Transportation officials say the storm will likely cause "moderate" impacts on many higher-elevation roadways, but higher impacts are expected in the Cottonwood canyons and high-elevation roadways toward the southern end of the Wasatch Back into central Utah on Friday.
Road Weather Alert: Strong crosswinds expected tonight through Friday afternoon. Mountain road snow and with some light lower elevation road snow Friday afternoon and night. For more information visit: https://t.co/QrWh3RKePZ…@UtahTrucking#UTWX#UTSNOW#utwindpic.twitter.com/fPFJW9AOJx
— UDOT Traffic (@UDOTTRAFFIC) February 6, 2025
Full seven-day forecasts for areas across Utah can be found online at the KSL Weather Center.
While the forecast isn't much, it's big for the central and southern Utah snowpacks that have slipped this winter. The southwestern Utah snowpack, for example, fell to 19% of its median average for this point on Thursday, as it has fallen to a record low for early February, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Its last major boost came during the Thanksgiving weekend.
A large chunk of Washington and Iron counties also slid into extreme drought this week, per the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The Conservation Service released a snowpack conditions update on Thursday, pointing out that multiple snowpack basins across southern Utah are running below 50% of the median average for this point in the year.
"It would take numerous large storms, at this point, for the area to get back on track," Jordan Clayton, a hydrologist for the agency, wrote in the update. "Worse, soil moisture levels in southwestern Utah are also at historic minimums, which has a high likelihood of adversely impacting the magnitude of what little snowmelt runoff the region produces."
