High Wind — Eastern Uinta Basin, Utah

2025-05-12 · Eastern Uinta Basin, Utah

Event narrative

The Vernal CWOP site on the west side of the city of Vernal recorded two wind gusts at or above 58 mph. The first gust, to 58 mph, occurred at 1:20 PM MDT, and the second gust, to 72 mph, occurred at 6:10 PM MDT. These were the only two gusts to reach this strength in the area on this day. No reports of injuries, damages, or fatalities were received.

Wider weather episode

A strong low pressure system moving into the Pacific Northwest led to the upper level pressure gradient to begin tightening over the eastern Great Basin, leading to increasing winds aloft. At the same time, high pressure still in place over eastern Utah and western Colorado helped promote deep daytime mixing that allowed those strong upper level winds to mix down to the surface. This resulted in widespread wind gusts of 40-50 mph, with gusts upwards of 60 mph in some locations.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1265742. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.