Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Salt Lake City, UT

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524 FXUS65 KSLC 302144 AFDSLC Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Salt Lake City UT 344 PM MDT Sun Jun 30 2024 .SYNOPSIS...
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Hot and dry southwest flow through the day with critical fire weather conditions across the western half of the state while moisture holds on across eastern Utah with isolated storms. A cold front tomorrow brings isolated showers to northern Utah with cooler temperatures while central and southern Utah stay dry and windy.
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&& .SHORT TERM (Through 12Z/6AM Wednesday)...
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Dry and hot conditions are observed across the western half of Utah. RH in the single digits in Utah motivated an inclusion of northern Utah from the Wasatch Front to points west into the Red Flag Warning for today. Winds have been strong enough to create isolated pockets of blowing dust. Moisture across eastern Utah has resulted in a cumulus field with little vertical development or storms, but this has kept temperatures cooler with higher RH and a lower fire weather risk. A cold front is moving into northern Utah this evening. Much cooler temperatures behind the front are noted across southern Idaho with temperatures in the upper 70s to low 80s. This front will continue to slowly push into northern Utah overnight. A few showers are possible along the front tomorrow morning and early afternoon, but dwindling moisture will prevent anything from going much further south than the GSL. Southerly winds and temperatures stay elevated, along with low RH, tomorrow across central and southern Utah ahead of the front. Red flag warnings remain in effect for west central and southwest Utah with south central Utah red flag warnings going into effect during the day tomorrow and lasting through the evening. See fire weather section of the AFD for more details. The front will help to scour the moisture out of eastern Utah tomorrow, but an isolated storm can`t be ruled out across the far eastern periphery of the CWA along the moisture gradient. By Tuesday, the front will have moved through the entirety of the CWA. This will leave temperatures near normal across the area with a very dry air mass and weaker winds resulting in a reduction in the fire weather risk. A shortwave will move through late Tuesday/early Wednesday and bring a reinforcing shot of cooler air, but the very dry airmass will prevent precipitation from developing. .LONG TERM (After 12Z/6AM Tuesday), Issued 242 AM MDT... Our mid- week cooldown across northern and central Utah remains on track thanks to the passage of cold, dry frontal boundary. Temperatures are expected to be the coolest Tuesday with a gradual warm up quickly already beginning Wednesday. Utah will sit in between an exiting low pressure trough to the east and building high pressure from the west Wednesday through Friday. As a result, little overall change in the weather pattern will be noticed. Over the weekend, forecast trends have been favoring the warmer temperatures associated with strong high pressure building over the region over the slightly cooler temperatures associated with a northwest flow pattern. There does remain question where the area of high pressure will center itself, thus with questions of how hot will temperatures get across our region.
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&& .AVIATION...
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KSLC...VFR conditions expected. Gusty SW winds in the 15 to 25kt range will continue through about 00Z this evening, when gustiness will drop off. A cold front will cause an abrupt wind shift to the NW this evening, with the wind shift expected between 04-06Z. Winds will gust up to around 25kts along and behind the cold front, with gusts subsiding 1 or 2 hours after the passage of the front. Winds will likely remain NW overnight but there is a low (30% chance) that winds will become southerly between 10-12Z. A few showers will be in the vicinity between 12-18Z Monday morning. .REST OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING...Isolated diurnal convection possible across eastern Utah through 06Z this evening. Otherwise, anticipate mostly clear to partly cloudy skies and VFR conditions. A cold front will move across northern Utah and SW Wyoming this evening, causing an abrupt wind shift to the N-NW with gusty winds lingering 1-3 hours after the cold frontal passage. The front will move through central Utah after midnight. A few showers will be in the vicinity of northern Utah in the morning, with a few showers and isolated thunderstorms expected along/near the Idaho border Monday afternoon and early evening.
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&& .FIRE WEATHER...
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An approaching trough will keep a dry southwesterly flow across the area with higher moisture across eastern Utah that has been advected in from high pressure centered over Texas. This trough will bring a cold front through northern Utah on Monday which will decrease the temperatures and winds resulting in increased RH and reduction in the fire weather risk. Southwesterly winds stay elevated across west central and southern Utah on Monday maintaining critical fire weather conditions. The front moves through late Monday and early Tuesday bringing a reduction in the fire weather risk by Tuesday as winds lessening and transitioning to a northerly component, but RH stays low. A second frontal passage on Wednesday will elevate northwesterly winds across eastern Utah and pair with low RH resulting in an increased fire weather risk that could linger through Thursday. Temperatures increase into the weekend as high pressure starts to build back into the Great Basin.
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&& .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
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UT...Red Flag Warning until 9 PM MDT this evening for UTZ478. Red Flag Warning until 9 PM MDT Monday for UTZ492-495>497. Red Flag Warning from noon to 9 PM MDT Monday for UTZ498. WY...None.
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&& $$ SHORT TERM...Mahan LONG TERM...N. DeSmet AVIATION...A. DeSmet FIRE WEATHER...Mahan For more information from NOAA`s National Weather Service visit... http://weather.gov/saltlakecity