Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Salt Lake City, UT
Issued by NWS Salt Lake City, UT
430 FXUS65 KSLC 051758 AFDSLC Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Salt Lake City UT 1158 AM MDT Tue May 5 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - Scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms will continue to impact primarily northern portions of the forecast area through Wednesday morning. Any storms that develop are capable of producing gusty outflow winds. - High pressure will bring dry conditions and a warming trend late Wednesday through at least the first part of the upcoming weekend. && .DISCUSSION...Midday satellite and H5 analysis place a deformation axis across northern Utah as an upper low over SoCal remains coupled with a deepening trough over Wyoming. Scattered showers coincident remain prevalent across the north, while areas across southwest Wyoming have changed p-type to moderate snow largely due to increased intensity attendant with a backdoor cold front from the northeast. The latter should gradually taper mid to late afternoon under decreasing baroclinicity, but in large areal extent of shower activity across the northern third of the area will be on the increase with additional diurnal heating. The northern branch trough will become the dominant feature tonight as it deepens over Colorado, shifting a more diffuse deformation zone south and east across the area through mid morning tomorrow. Scattered shower potential will largely remain tied to this feature, but building heights from the west will rapidly stabilize the forecast area by midday. Thereafter, its all about a continuation of building heights driving a notable warming trend through the remainder of the forecast period and beyond. Model consensus continues to key in on High pressure amplifying upstream, then gradually building over the eastern Great Basin by early next week. && .AVIATION...KSLC...Recently updated TAF for a slightly earlier switch from modest southerly winds switching to light northwesterly winds between 22-23z. Scattered showers in the vicinity of the terminal may sporadically induce brief erratic wind directions through the afternoon hours however. In large, VFR conditions are expected to dominate. .REST OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING...For southern terminals, dry conditions expected to hold. Winds through this time will also tend to be diurnally normal. At northern terminals, shower chances are expected to increase this afternoon with isolated thunderstorms also developing, with IFR snow across southwest Wyoming through 20-21z but gradually improving thereafter. Storms will be capable of gusty erratic outflow winds as well as brief reductions to CIGS/VIS. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...None. WY...None. && $$ Merrill For more information from NOAA`s National Weather Service visit... http://weather.gov/saltlakecity