Winter Storm — Western Uinta Mountains, Utah

2024-01-12 to 2024-01-15 · Western Uinta Mountains, Utah

Event narrative

Several SNOTEL stations including Rock Creek, Buck Pasture, and Trial Lake recorded around 1.0 to 3.0 inches of snow water equivalent, resulting in approximately 12 to 39 inches of snow. Additional reports included 34.0 inches at Heber City 10.1 ESE CoCoRaHS, and a public report of 16.0 inches at 6 E Heber City. Strong winds were also noted, with several observations at the Windy Peak mesonet site in excess of 70 mph (with a peak gust of 98 mph at 5:00 pm MST 1/12), and wind gusts at or above 70 mph at the Trial Lake mesonet site.

Wider weather episode

A fairly long duration two part winter storm moved through Utah in mid January. This winter storm resulted in several days of fairly substantial mountain snow, with more modest accumulations noted in some of the lower elevation valleys. Mountain snow was more or less a continuous feature with minimal breaks between the two portions of the system, while most valley accumulations occurred during the colder second half of the system. This system also produced periods of strong sustained winds and gusts, and was responsible for triggering multiple avalanches throughout Utah's mountains.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1151599. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.