Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Salt Lake City, UT
Issued by NWS Salt Lake City, UT
673 FXUS65 KSLC 232222 AFDSLC Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Salt Lake City UT 322 PM MST Sun Nov 23 2025 .SYNOPSIS...Dense fog and low stratus are expected to continue to impact portions of northern and central Utah tonight into Monday morning. A dry cold front will cross the region Monday afternoon into Tuesday morning, bringing cooler temperatures. There is a potential for a winter storm next weekend. && .DISCUSSION...The upper low that had been moving across AZ is now centered just east of the Four Corners area. Associated light precipitation and clouds that were in place earlier today across southern Utah have mostly diminished. Meanwhile, across the north, the low stratus trapped in the valleys continue to gradually erode, but remains largely in place along the central and southern Wasatch Front, Cache Valley, and Bear River Valley. A weak ridge will build into Utah this evening as the upper low exits the region. This would tend to increase stabilization of the airmass, continuing to trap low-level moisture in place across northern and portions of central Utah. Some things working against this are increasing winds aloft and some high clouds which will spread into the area tonight. At this time, the high clouds look to remain fairly thin, and if that holds, it should have little effect on temperatures and thus dewpoint depressions tonight. The increasing winds aloft (which are not even all that strong at 10- 15kt at 700mb) may help mix the higher elevation sites, but should have little effect on the valley floors. In what should be lowering inversion heights, fog could potentially be more likely tonight compared to just a low stratus deck. The weak ridge tonight will yield to a trough grazing northern Utah tomorrow afternoon and evening. Although this trough is a bit weaker than previous runs were indicating, it will still push a relatively dry cold front into Utah. Increased mixing ahead of and with this front should help reduce the chances of fog/stratus reappearing after tomorrow morning. Spotty precipitation, mainly over the northern mountains, may accompany this cold front, but any amounts are expected to be very minor. The 75th percentile of QPF in the HREF remains largely less than 0.2 inches, and this is more than what is in the NBM, where the 75th percentile largely remains less than 0.1 inches. A broader ridge will build back into the area on Tuesday, bringing a period of relatively benign weather through Thanksgiving Day. For Thanksgiving weekend, model consensus has the next trough affecting the western CONUS. However, cluster analysis and global deterministics show some differences in timing along with varying amounts of splitting, and therefore, large spread in precipitation amounts. This time, however, temperatures may become cold enough for valley snow by Saturday. && .AVIATION...KSLC...Persistent MVFR cigs due to a stubborn stratus deck may break up late this afternoon and evening (60% chance). If such break up materializes, expect at least a few hours of VFR conditions into the evening before the next round of fog develops. Current expectation is that fog will redevelop between 3Z and 6Z, causing flight categories to dip to at least MVFR if not IFR. That said, the chance of another thick stratus deck developing is less than last night, estimated in the 30-50% chance range. Winds overnight will be light out of the southeast, less than 5 kts. .REST OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING...Valley fog and low clouds are likely to redevelop tonight, generally for valleys along/west of I- 15 and from around KDTA northward. Stratus formation is not expected to be as thick and widespread however. Impacted locations could see flight conditions as low as LIFR. Outside of the fog and low clouds, expect VFR conditions with only a few high clouds. Winds across the region will be light. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...None. WY...None. && $$ Cheng/Van Cleave For more information from NOAA`s National Weather Service visit... http://weather.gov/saltlakecity