Winter Weather in Western Canyonlands, Utah

Snow Squall. Mesonet sensor in the western Canyonlands area reported snow squall conditions, including heavy snow, wind gusts of 32 mph, visibility of 0.24 miles, and low road grips indicative of slick roads.

A strong and moist trough pushed inland during the middle portion of February, leading to several days of impactful weather. Strong southwesterly flow on the leading edge of the trough resulted in many instances of strong winds and gusts, and moisture was sufficient to begin producing mountain snow more or less throughout the state. The deep nature of the trough then contained sufficient cold air to drop snow levels following a cold frontal passage, bringing snow to many valley floors, areas of scattered snow squalls, and a period of intense snowfall rates to some of the northern mountains. The snowfall resulted in numerous vehicle accidents, road and canyon closures, and avalanches (of which a fatality was reported).