A Pleasant Weekend
Posted by Anthony
With high pressure shifting into the Intermountain West, things looks pretty rosy for Salt Lake City after the previous system shifted into Southern Plains. Conditions cleared out for Sunday night and most of Monday. Clouds increased during the afternoon on Monday, but not before temperatures peaked into the low 60's. TWC took home the win with some top-notch temperature forecasts.
Sunday: High 55, Low 32.
Monday: High 61, Low 34.
Forecast Grade: A
Salt Lake City, Utah to Redding, California
Posted by Anthony
Today we embark on a mountain road trip, from Salt Lake City to Redding, a 713-mile trip through the Great Basin to the northern tip of California's Central Valley. This would have been posted a little earlier, but was slightly distracted by the TV reporting Osama Bin Laden's death. Historical breaking news reports have a habit of delaying posts. A shout-out to all of the American servicemen and women who have spent their time, and their lives, to helping bring this man to justice. On that note, let us travel westward through the mountains...
DAY ONE
As I mentioned yesterday, a ridge of high pressure took hold over a good portion of the Western US. Dry weather is anticipated as we trek from Utah's capital into Nevada, and past Elko along I-80. Higher-level clouds are expected late in the day as a cold front moves through the Pacific Northwest. Some precip is expected to move through Oregon and southern Idaho, and some gusty winds are anticipated as we move through the mountains, but we'll remain on the dry side as we pull into Reno, our stop for the night.
DAY TWO
It'll be a short drive today, under 200 miles left to our destination. Much like yesterday, the weather today should be on the pleasant side with less wind than yesterday. We'll pull into Redding by noontime, which should be mostly sunny. Enjoy the day!
Salt Lake City, Utah
Posted by Anthony
Given all the talk lately with severe weather in the Southern US, hard to imagine that right now there's a blizzard going on in western North Dakota. Scattered mountain snow showers have also been falling over the Intermountain West. Will Salt Lake get in on the action or will spring bring some sunny skies to the area to finish the weekend?
At 953AM MDT, the temperature at Salt Lake City was 37 degrees under mostly cloudy skies. A mid-level system has been traversing the Intermountain West the last day or so, and is expected to kick up scattered snow showers over the region, even though a ridge of high pressure is building into the area in the lower levels of the atmosphere. In addition, today's high temps are expected to be a good 15-20 degrees lower than normal. Yikes. When your elevation is at 4400 feet, however, places are more susceptible to these upper-level dynamics. Luckily, this system is a fairly quick mover and will trek towards the Four Corners later tonight and onwards into NM by tomorrow. That aforementioned ridge of high pressure will take a better hold of the region tomorrow keeping most of the region on the quiet side. There could be some afternoon instability showers over the mountains, but I think the main part of the city will be on the dry side to finish off the weekend. Monday will be more of the same, however a cold front will start to approach from the northwest late Monday night. No worries though, it appears that frontal system will pass by without much precip at all falling over northern Utah. All-in-all, a quiet and enjoyable forecast!
Sunday: Increased afternoon clouds, but dry. High 53, Low 29.
Monday: Temperatures continue to rebound! Mostly sunny. High 63, Low 32.
TWC: Sunday: Mostly sunny. High 53, Low 31.
Monday: Mostly sunny. High 61, Low 33.
AW: Sunday: Sunshine and some scattered afternoon clouds. High 54, Low 29.
Monday: Mostly sunny. High 60, Low 31.
NWS: Sunday: Scattered morning rain/snow shower. High 50, Low 28.
Monday: Continued clearing. High 59, Low 31.
WB: Sunday: Isolated morning rain/snow shower, then partly cloudy. High 54, Low 33.
Monday: Sunny. High 63, Low 35.
Not too much going on over the mountains this morning, a few thicker clouds found off to the northeast, but otherwise quiet for the time being, with some scattered showers later this afternoon.
The fickle monsoon
Posted by Ryan
As suspected, the weather in Salt Lake City was largely dictated by a typically monsoonal flow. A HOT monsoonal flow. There was an unexpected splash of rain on Monday that threw off some precipitation forecasts and knocked the high down a few degrees. Dry air allowed the low temperature to register a full 10 degrees cooler than some had forecast on Tuesday. Salt Lake was a typically difficult mountain forecast that the Weather Service came in on top with, solely because they were the only ones to even hit at rain on Monday.
Actuals - Monday - trace or rain, High 96, Low 70
Tuesday - Thunderstorms reported but not measured, High 94, Low 64
Grade: C
Salt Lake City, Utah to Gainesville, Florida
Posted by Anthony
Today we travel from Salt Lake City to Gainesville. Well, it'll take four days but if the Utes and Gators were ever to play a high-stakes football game, at least the fan base would know where to travel! This trip will cover 2,207 miles over 4 days. So let's all hop into the minivan and travel to the Sunshine State!
DAY ONE
It'll be a somewhat cloudy start to the day in Salt Lake City, as some remements of overnight monsoonal showers and thunderstorms lift northwards over the region. While no showers are expected in the area as we head eastward on I-80 into Wyoming. The sun should break out fully as the morning progresses and the land heats up, but as with the typical monsoon routine, thunderstorms should start blowing up around midday. The tail end of a cold front that's pushing through the Northern Plains will be the focus of showers and thunderstorm activity, most of which should stay out over the Dakotas and over Northern WY. Scattered thunderstorms are quite possible as we roll through Laramie towards Cheyenne, and a few should continue to hang around the region as evening approaches and we continue on into Western Nebraska towards Sidney, our first stop of the night. No severe storms are expected today, they should all stay well off to the north and east of today's leg.
DAY TWO
As the tail end of the cold front pulls away from the Upper Midwest and high pressure starts to build in, it should be a fairly nice start to the day as our trip along I-80 continues on its' merry way. The base of the high pressure will continue to push down over NE and Western IA, keeping partly cloudy skies overhead as we roll through Kearney and Grand Island by early afternoon. Overall, it should be a rather pleasant day through and through as we turn southward and head into Kansas City, our stop for the second night.
DAY THREE
The main dome of high pressure will continue eastward overnight into the Western Great Lakes, with the base of it pushing down into the Mid-MS Valley. With another system developing over the Northern Plains, a weak boundary will set up from southeast MO northwestward into the Dakotas. The start of the day will be nice, with us starting our way over on I-70 towards St. Louis. Clouds will build through the late-morning hours as a few thunderstorms attempt to develop over the region, with better chances as we make our way along I-24 to kick off the afternoon past Mt. Vernon, IL. The afternoon will continue to get a bit drearier though, as numerous showers and thunderstorms are expected to ignite over western KY and TN into the early evening hours. The windshield wipers should have gotten a pretty good workout by the time we roll into Nashville, our stop for the third night.
DAY FOUR
This area of high pressure has been rather kind to us for the most part the last couple of days, following us along the US and getting our days off to good starts. Today won't be any different either, with it building southward into the TN Valley and Southern Appalachaians while the main center remains over the Central Great Lakes. The cold front mentioned previously will have pushed off the Eastern Seaboard mostly, but the tail end of it will have shifted to southeast GA/FL Panhandle and westward along the Gulf Coast. This axis will be the main area for showers and thunderstorms, which we won't get to until well in the afternoon after making our way though Chattanooga by mid-morning and Atlanta by midday. Once we get south of Macon is where we'll start to see increasing clouds and a few scattered storms, which we'll have to dodge for the remainder of the day as we pull into Gainesville. Time to do the Gator Chomp!
Salt Lake City, Utah
Posted by Anthony
At 10:53AM MDT, the temperature was 86 degrees under clear skies. With a mid-level trough parked off the CA coast, and general high pressure camped out over the Southeastern portion of the country, Salt Lake City is caught in no-man's land with weak flow and systems staying well off to the north. That doesn't mean SLC won't be seeing some weather over the next couple of days, however, as it's monsoon season over the Western US! With the high pressure sitting over the Southeast, more moisture than normal is pushed over the Four Corners and Intermountain West region. Given the hot temperatures that occur on a daily basis throughout the summer, scattered thunderstorms are a daily occurrence. Most of the action for Monday will be towards the south and east of Utah's capital, but Tuesday will see a better shot at storms creeping towards the city. Monday, however, will be the hotter of the days, with the mercury flirting with triple digits.
Monday: Increasing clouds in afternoon, hot. High 99, Low 69.
Tuesday: Scattered afternoon thunderstorms. High 92, Low 70.
TWC: Monday: Mostly sunny. High 97, Low 71.
Tuesday: Partly cloudy, afternoon thunderstorms possible. High 91, Low 70.
AW: Monday: Some sun, increasing clouds. High 100, Low 70.
Tuesday: Afternoon thunderstorms. High 95, Low 71.
NWS: Monday: Isolated thunderstorms possible. High 97, Low 73.
Tuesday: Scattered thunderstorms. High 93, Low 74.
WB: Monday: Partly cloudy. High 95, Low 72.
Tuesday: Scattered evening thunderstorms. High 91, Low 74.
Mostly clear skies over the region now, with that pesky marine layer still affecting the CA coastline. Beachgoers there will prob want to head to UT to enjoy some sizzling sun!
