Atmospheric river moving into northern Utah this weekend

SALT LAKE CITY — An atmospheric river is set to crash into northern Utah Friday night, bringing rain to the valleys and snow to the mountains.

“The areas that are going to benefit the most are north of I-80, so up through the Ogden mountains in Cache Valley and up towards the Bear Lake area,” said KSL Chief Meteorologist Kevin Eubank.

What is an atmospheric river?

Eubank described it as a whole stream of water that comes out of the Pacific.

“If it would’ve been a snowstorm or a cold air storm, we would’ve ended up with 10 to 12 inches of snow in the valleys. But because it’s so mild, it’s going to come in the form of valley rain.”

Eubank said the northern mountains could get as much as one to two feet of heavy dense snow. He said that should get northern Utah back to about 100% of its normal snowpack. However, he said it’s not going to do anything for the southern part, where the snowpack remains below 30%.

“Now [in] the Cottonwood Canyons in the southern side of I-80 into the Wasatch [Front] we’re still going to get 10 to 20 inches of snow,” said Eubank. “And it is going to increase the avalanche danger just because of the high moisture content and the density of that snowfall.”

Eubank said there will be another storm coming in during the middle of next week, Wednesday into Thursday.

“Another round of storm, and this one’s a little colder. [It] likely will produce a rain [and] snow mix in the valleys with additional snowfall in the northern mountains.”

Related:

• Utah avalanche danger rated ‘moderate’, signs of slides reported
• Advisories issued as storm brings valuable snow, snaps southern Utah’s long dry stretch

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