Above-normal temperatures expected for Utah summer

SALT LAKE CITY — If you’re hoping for a hot summer in Utah this year, it sounds like you’re going to get it. Meteorologists are predicting above-normal temperatures for summer 2024.

Changes to the Earth’s climate are guaranteeing the heat, according to KSL Meteorologist Matt Johnson.

“High-pressure systems becoming stronger, more stagnant, more persistent,” he said. “That’s going to give you larger amounts of time to get your heat waves.”

In layman’s terms, a high-pressure system occurs when gasses in the atmosphere layer on top of each other. Warm air is more easily trapped when such a system forms over Utah’s high desert.

And we feel hotter.

El Niño, La Niña and Utah summer 2024

Each year, the National Weather Service predicts how much more than normal surface waters will heat up throughout the year.

Experts call this atypical warming La Niña or El Niño climate patterns. This year’s prediction points to a transition to La Niña sometime between June, July or August 2024. 

That will lead to more dry and warm temperatures.

“Long-range models and climate predictions are saying that we will be sliding into a weak- to moderate La Niña pattern,” Johnson said, much like Utah experienced in summer, 2023.

Johnson said La Niña and El Niño predictions are most accurate for the west coast. He expects states like California and Oregon will see more drastic results of the climate pattern, than will Utah. 

Still, Utah’s summer temperatures are expected to be above average.

“I would expect your classic summer  (like) what we’ve seen the past five, seven years — above normal, hot, dry, monsoon kicking in (the) latter end of July into August.”

Despite an altitude of around 4,200 feet in Salt Lake City, residents should get used to these hotter temperatures, Johnson said.

They’re becoming “the new normal.”

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