‘Blooper’ storms slated to hit Utah, keeping inversion away through the weekend

SALT LAKE CITY — After a dry spell plagued northern Utah with an ugly smog for nearly 10 days, a new “parade” of storms coming out of the West Coast is expected to keep the inversion away in the Beehive State through the weekend.

According to KSL meteorologist Matthew Johnson, the storms will be quite small, with the first expected to hit the state Thursday night.

“As it works into the Great Basin and Intermountain West, it’s going to be losing steam; a decaying small storm,” Johnson said.

Ahead of the first storm, Thursday’s skies would see mostly cloud cover, with a high temperature forecasted nearly 10 degrees above normal for the time of year in the Wasatch Front at 47 degrees, and a low of 29.

Spotty snow showers could move into the mountains as early as 10 or 11 p.m. in central parts of the state, Johnson projected.

By Friday morning, commuters could see snow falling around 8 a.m. However, the precipitation is expected to be minimal with northern mountains seeing the most.

“Yeah this is really nothing special — two to six inches is really the most we can squeeze out of this thing,” Johnson said.

Still on track for a blooper storm tonight – Friday AM. This system is decaying as it moves in so very meager amounts of moisture with this thing. Another small storm slated for Sunday, could have a little more water with it… #utwx pic.twitter.com/K6UBPLg70g

— Matthew Johnson (@KSL_Matt) December 12, 2024

Geminid meteor shower

Thursday is also the start of the peak viewing time for the Geminid meteor shower, which means cloud cover could obstruct the view for portions of the evening.

Johnson said the shower will be visible through Dec. 24, but will be the most vibrant on Thursday and Friday night, with 80 to 120 meteors per hour.

As the moon’s phase approaches full on Sunday evening, the light it casts into the sky may deflect some of the meteors from visibility as well, according to the American Meteor Society

Still, meteors should be visible across the state, and Johnson suggested facing south while searching for them in the state of Utah. The Geminids are expected to be the most visible from approximately 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. in Utah.

“Parade of Troughs”

On Saturday, temperatures will warm back up to the upper 40s ahead of a second storm which is expected to hit at approximately 10 p.m. Precipitation will pick back up again and continue into Sunday afternoon, Johnson said.

Although it will be small, this storm will possibly provide more snowfall than the first.

“There’s still a lot of uncertainty with the strength and track of this storm,” he said. “But out of the state, it looks to favor northern Utah.”

A series of fast moving troughs will impact Utah and southwest Wyoming Thursday through early next week with generally light mountain snow accumulations expected. It may seem a bit like a parade of troughs coming through. #utwx #wywx pic.twitter.com/4yHSZgPDJg

— NWS Salt Lake City (@NWSSaltLakeCity) December 11, 2024

Further, the National Weather Service projected a third storm, which it expects to hit the state on Monday.

Johnson said he expects more specifics to be available on the next storms as they approach.