Winter Storm — La Sal & Abajo Mountains, Utah

2025-03-05 to 2025-03-07 · La Sal & Abajo Mountains, Utah

Event narrative

Generally 10 to 20 inches of snow fell across the area with 14 to 16 inches of snow at the Abajo Mountains and 10 to 20 inches of snow at the La Sal Mountains. Winds generally gusted in the 45 to 50 mph range with a peak wind gust of 52 mph at Monticello Airport. Wind gusts were likely higher at mountain peak level but the observations are missing.

Wider weather episode

A deep closed low pressure system moved through the Great Basin into the Four Corners region on the heels of another system. This low brought deep Atmospheric River moisture from the Desert Southwest through the Four Corners ahead of it, along with impressive dynamics and a strong jet to produce moderate to heavy snowfall across most mountain ranges of eastern Utah and western Colorado where the highest amounts of 1 to 2 feet of snow fell across the mountains of eastern Utah and southwest Colorado. Temperatures remained mild enough that most lower valleys saw primarily rain, limiting snowfall accumulations. Winds were quite strong as well with gusts in the mountains in the 60 to 80 mph range on average, leading to impacts from blowing snow.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1248513. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.