High Wind — Great Salt Lake Desert and Mountains, Utah

2024-03-02 to 2024-03-03 · Great Salt Lake Desert and Mountains, Utah

Event narrative

A period of very strong winds were noted, with some mesonet sites observing both sustained winds in excess of 40 mph for an hour or more, and gusts in excess of 58 mph. The earliest observed high wind gust was noted at the CALLAO GATE mesonet site at 5:35 am MST (60 mph), and the final observed high wind gust was noted at the CAUSEWAY mesonet site at 1:45 pm MST (58 mph). A peak wind gust of 77 mph was observed at the CAMEL BACK MTN mesonet site at 12:05 pm MST. Some additional selected gusts at mesonet sites in the zone included 74 mph at Gunnison Island, 73 mph at I-80 @ mp 29, 71 mph at INTERSTATE 80, and 64 mph at I-80 at MP 1. At least some of the strongest of the gusts may have been partially influenced by convective segments along the advancing cold front. Due to the winds, I-80 was closed from the morning hours of 3/2 onward until winds began to subside behind the frontal passage later in the afternoon. Aside from the winds, accumulating snow was observed at both mountain and lower elevations, but widespread warning amounts were not noted.

Wider weather episode

A strong system approached the region for the start of March, with very anomalously strong low level flow noted ahead of a cold frontal boundary. This strong low level flow resulted in a prolonged period of strong sustained and gusty winds across almost the entirety of Utah. As the cold front moved into northern Utah, some areas experienced convective precipitation and associated strong wind gusts. Winds began to subside following the passage of the cold front, but the colder air allowed for precipitation to transition to snow, yielding accumulating snow across much of the area. Mountain locations which remained sufficiently cold throughout the event received fairly substantial snow accumulations in addition to the prolonged strong winds.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1155079. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.