Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Salt Lake City, UT
Issued by NWS Salt Lake City, UT
795 FXUS65 KSLC 102253 AFDSLC Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Salt Lake City UT 353 PM MST Wed Dec 10 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Gusty westerly winds will gradually decrease over the next couple of days across southwest Wyoming and the higher terrain of northeast Utah. - High pressure will be in place through the weekend, with dry conditions and temperatures around 10-20F warmer than normal. Valley inversions will build as high pressure is in place. && .DISCUSSION...Anticyclonic northwest flow continues to stream across Utah and southwest Wyoming this afternoon as a broad ridge of high pressure sits off of the west coast. As this aforementioned ridge slowly nudges eastward, the plume of moisture to our north will continue to shift away, leaving our area in a dry and subsident air mass through at least Monday. Additionally, winds will continue to taper, with gusty westerlies across southwest Wyoming decreasing to 30-35 mph on Thursday afternoon...moreso by Friday. As of 330PM today, KSLC has reached 61F, which is 21F above our normal of 40F for December 10th. This is likely the warmest day of the next 7 across valleys as developing inversions will limit maximum temperatures. The mountains, however, could continue to see gradual temperature increases given 700-mb temperatures rising to +5C by late Saturday. Uncertainty remains with when these valley inversions mix out; model guidance suggests a weak wave crosses the region on Monday, but the main question is whether or not it could be enough to even ventilate valleys. Looking ahead to Tuesday and beyond, guidance does favor returning to a more active pattern. Across northern Utah and southwest Wyoming, this could be as early as Tuesday as the longwave pattern turns more zonal with embedded waves. Only a subset of ensemble members do not have much precipitation at all next week, around 10 percent. Southern Utah might take longer to return to more active weather, however. Most ensemble members do not favor any QPF until closer to Christmas. It`s worth noting that while the CPC 6-10 Day Outlook leans towards above-normal precipitation across northern Utah, the southern portion of the state still is slightly favored for below-normal precipitation. && .AVIATION...KSLC...VFR conditions persist at the terminal through the TAF period. Expect gradually clearing skies throughout the remainder of the afternoon. Winds remain generally light out of the south today into Thursday morning, transitioning northwesterly Thursday afternoon. .REST OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING...VFR conditions persist for all regional terminals through the TAF period. Gradually clearing skies are expected across the airspace, with generally light and variable winds for most terminals except higher terrain across northeast Utah and southwest Wyoming where gusty westerly winds in excess of 25 kts at times are expected this afternoon and evening. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...None. WY...None. && $$ Cunningham/Whitlam For more information from NOAA`s National Weather Service visit... http://weather.gov/saltlakecity