For decades, a downtown Salt Lake City skyscraper has silently but surely alerted Utahns of what weather conditions to expect.
Whether you are new to the Beehive State or a longtime resident who could use a refresher course in decoding the historic Walker Center’s weather beacon, here’s what you need to know:
The code for the sign lights has stayed steady over the years — solid red for snow in the forecast, flashing red for rain, flashing blue for cloudy skies and solid blue for clear skies.
In 1998, a story from The Salt Lake Tribune said the tower “visible from most parts of the valley, the blue- or red-flashing neon obelisk was the first thing travelers saw as they drove into town from the east or the west.”
The Walker Center’s 64-foot-tall radio transmitter was created in the 1940s and started as a television tower. It became a weather tower in 1953, according to a 2018 story by former FOX 13 reporter Todd Tanner.
According to Tanner’s story, the transmitter tower came down in 1983, but the horizontal sign remained. The radio tower and its sign were re-installed in 2008.
Tanner now hosts a rooftop tour of the Walker Center, making it publicly accessible for the first time in the building’s 113-year history. In 2022, the lights were upgraded to LED, allowing the sign to be lit up in any color combination. It’s often changed for holidays, like pink for Valentine’s Day, green for St. Patrick’s Day or rainbow for Pride.
[Read more: For the first time, take in “the best spot in the city” atop a historic SLC skyscraper.]
On Tanner’s tour, guests can pick their favorite color and he’ll change the sign’s colors so people can take a photo in front of it.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Todd Tanner hosts a tour on the Walker Center rooftop on Tuesday, July 29, 2025.
Nearby, Utah’s tallest building, the newly opened Astra Tower, has a similar concept to the historic skyscraper’s weather beacon: lighting at the top of the building (and inside the elevators and common areas) corresponds to live air quality monitors in Utah. They shine white on good- or moderate-quality days, and orange, red or purple on unhealthy days.