St. Joseph, Missouri to St. George, Utah

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This saintly journey is going to take us two days and cover 1188 miles. This trip will be about as mountainous as it can get, but will also be on fast freeways when we aren’t handling terrain. That said, expect a speed of 66.7mph, and to stop for the first night at approximately the 533 mile point.

DAY ONE (Sunday)

St. Joseph, Missouri

Our first day will contain none of that mountainous terrain I talked about in the introduction. We will run the length of Kansas and emerge through the prairies of eastern Colorado. We’ll land in Bennett, Colorado after a hot day of driving. Low pressure developing in the central Rockies means a warm front extended to the Upper Midwest and a reinforced heat dome through the Sunflower State. Steamy.

DAY TWO (Monday)
Low pressure will continue to spin in the central Rockies, which is bad news for our hopes for a clear drive. Showers and storms will be possible on the western and southern exposures of the higher terrain until we hit about Eagle, Colorado. The rest of Colorado will be fine, with warm dry conditions. Some monsoonal showers and storms are going to be in the picture for the last leg, from about Richland on south, but it won’t be a major or long lived threat. St. George can get pretty hot too, but it’s a dry heat.

Saint George, Utah

The wind howls through southwest Utah

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Southwest Utah isn’t a terribly rainy spot, and when low pressure developed in the middle part of the state, the response in St. George certainly wasn’t rainfall. Instead, on Tuesday St. George reported gusts of over 40mph, which is certainly swift, and almost certainly laden with dust on the outskirts of town. Temperatures generally cooperated with forecasts, with warmer overnight lows on Tuesday really the only day over day change. We had a trio of outlets combine for the top forecast, with Weatherbug splitting the difference with the Weather Service and Weathernation, each of whom had their first victory of the year.
Actuals: Monday, High 80, Low 52
Tuesday – High 82, Low 55

Grade: B-C

Saint George, Utah

Ryan Henning 1 Comment

While most of the population of Utah is in a narrow strip of the Salt Lake Basin, right along I-15, there is at least one big outlier: St. George and Cedar City in he southwest corner of the state.

At 156PM, MT, St. George was reporting a temperature of 77 degrees with clear skies. There is a bit of an absence of upper level dynamics, and across the arid inter mountain west, that means sunshine and dry air. Dew points are sitting in the teens, so temperatures this afternoon should warm unabated.
The entry region of the nearest jet is centered over the Pacific Northwest, and it will shift towards Wyoming through the day tomorrow. Flow in the wake of the jet will curl cyclonically to join the jet streak, leading to the development of low pressure over Nevada. Southerly flow will emerge in southern Utah later in the day Tuesday. Expect dry conditions to continue over St. George, but some rain and snow to emerge over the southern faces of taller Wasatch Mountains through central Utah by Tuesday night.
Tomorrow – Sunny, High 82, Low 51
Tuesday – Partly cloudy and breezy, High 81, Low 51

TWC: Tomorrow – Partly cloudy skies. High 84, Low 50
Tuesday – Partly cloudy early. Mostly sunny skies with gusty winds developing later in the day. High 81, Low 52

AW: Tomorrow – Intervals of clouds and sun High 83, Low 47
Tuesday – Mostly sunny; breezy in the afternoon High 79, Low 53

NWS: Tomorrow – Mostly sunny High 83, Low 51
Tuesday – Sunny, High 79, Low 55

WB: Tomorrow – Sunny, High 81, Low 55
Tuesday – Partly cloudy in the morning, then becoming sunny, High 80, Low 56

WN: Tomorrow – Mostly sunny, High 85, Low 51
Tuesday – Mostly sunny, High 81, Low 55

FIO: Tomorrow – Partly cloudy throughout the day. High 84, Low 50
Tuesday – Partly cloudy throughout the day. High 81, Low 53

This was an interesting forecast to construct, watching low pressure develop on the same map in an area that wasn’t the High Plains. Not something we get to look at every day. It’s pretty sunny today, though.