ENVIRONMENT

Extra warm three-day temperatures is recipe for extra spring runoff

May 1, 2023, 4:00 PM

A backcountry skier is dead after "tumbling a significant distance," according to the Unified Police Department. Snow covers the mountains in Little Cottonwood Canyon on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022. (Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News)

(Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News)

BY LINDSAY AERTS

KSLNewsRadio

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Record level temperatures are expected Monday and it will be extra warm through Wednesday in Utah. Similarly, it’s warm in the mountains and not cooling enough to slow the spring runoff overnight.

Temperature high’s on Monday are forecasted to reach 90 degrees. That would be a record for Salt Lake City, who’s record high is 87 this year. Overnight lows in the valley’s are in the upper 50s, which means the mountains won’t cool below freezing either.

KSL Meteorologist Matt Johnson says that’s a recipe for extra spring runoff.

“Record temperatures on top of record snowpack is a bad, bad equation for excessive runoff,” he tells KSL NewsRadio’s Dave and Dujanovic.

He’s particularly concerned about areas like Cache Valley because still there is still snow on the ground to melt. Most of the valley is under a flood watch.

An areal flood watch is in effect for portions of Cache County near the Little Bear River below Hyrum Reservoir. #utwx pic.twitter.com/AOHJoS3aKW

— NWS Salt Lake City (@NWSSaltLakeCity) April 30, 2023

A cool off is coming. But not until Thursday. By this weekend temperatures will be back in the upper sixties.

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