Are you among the Utahns itching to finally see some powder in the mountains? You might be in luck.
The National Weather Service’s Salt Lake City office is predicting two snowstorms within the next week could whiten mountain ranges throughout Utah, especially in southern portions of the state.
Seth Warthen, a lead meteorologist in the Salt Lake City office, said the first of the two statewide storm systems is set to roll through the state Saturday.
Initially, he said, the storm will likely bring more rain than snow to anywhere with an elevation under 10,000 feet. By Monday morning, he said, lower mountain elevations at about 8,000 feet are also expected to receive snow.
Friday’s forecast showed the storm will likely drop most of its moisture in Southern Utah, Warthen said. Potentially, the system could leave 5-10 inches of accumulated snow in higher-elevation areas in the region, like Brian Head, he said.
He added that there will also likely be some snow accumulation in high-elevation areas in other parts of the state, like the upper Cottonwoods and in central mountain ranges.
That storm is expected to end on Monday, Warthen said — and another is anticipated to begin Tuesday.
The second storm, Warthen said, is less predictable. It has the potential, though, to drop more snow in the mountains than the first storm, he said. On Friday, he added that some weather models were anticipating that the storm will leave less snow than were anticipated in Thursday forecasts.
“We still just have a lot of uncertainty,” he said. “The door is still open for something to bring some more substantial snow to a wider portion of Utah’s mountains.”
Warthen cautioned people from anticipating exact amounts of snow, and encouraged them to instead look at storm trends as the system grows closer.
While it might not be enough snow to guarantee a white Thanksgiving, Warthen agreed that it will likely be enough to get skiers excited.
“I definitely will be looking forward to it,” he said.