UPDATE Monday 4:00 p.m. The National Weather service has updated the hazardous weather outlook issued Sunday. Scattered showers and thunderstorms will continue to move across portions of southern and central Utah through this afternoon. The strongest storms at 2:45 p.m. will affect areas in southwest Washington and southeast iron counties. Brief heavy rain, small hail, strong gusty winds and dangerous cloud-to-ground lightning are possible with some of these storms.
Locally affected areas include southwest Utah, Utah’s Dixie and Zion National Park, south central Utah, Glen Canyon Recreation Area-Lake Powell, central mountains and southern mountains. Other areas of the state include west central Utah, Castle Country, San Rafael Swell, Sanpete and Sevier valleys.
ST. GEORGE — The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous weather outlook for the western two-thirds of Utah and southwest Wyoming.
The outlook forecasts hazardous weather events from Sunday night through Tuesday, including heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, snowfall in the mountains and potential for urban flooding.
Affected areas
Locally, areas expected to be impacted include southwest Utah, Utah’s Dixie and Zion National Park, south-central Utah, Glen Canyon Recreation Area-Lake Powell and southern mountains.
Other portions of the state affected Cache Valley, northern Wasatch Front, Salt Lake and Tooele valleys, southern Wasatch Front, Great Salt Lake Desert and mountains, Wasatch Mountain valleys, Wasatch Mountains near Interstate 80 North, Wasatch Mountains south of I-80, western Uinta Mountains, Wasatch Plateau-Book Cliffs, Western Uinta Basin, Castle Country, San Rafael Swell, Sanpete-Sevier valleys, west-central Utah, central mountains and southwest Wyoming.
Timeline
Moisture will move north into the outlook area Sunday night with an increasing chance of showers across the western half of the area.
Rain will become widespread along with a few thunderstorms across much of the outlook area on Monday then taper off from the west Monday night through Tuesday.
A few pockets of heavy rainfall are possible with a minor threat of local flooding of urban areas and dry washes.
Snow levels will remain high, and any accumulating snowfall will be confined to the highest peaks.
A return to warm dry conditions is expected Wednesday and Thursday.
Lightning Safety
The National Weather Service describes how best to seek shelter in a thunderstorm:
- A safe shelter from lightning is either a substantial building or an enclosed metal vehicle.
- A safe building is one that is fully enclosed with a roof, walls and floor and utilities such as plumbing or wiring. Examples include a home, school, church, hotel, office building or shopping center. Once inside, stay away from showers, sinks, bathtubs and electronic equipment such as stoves, radios, corded telephones and computers.
- Unsafe buildings include carports, open garages, covered patios, picnic shelters, beach pavilions, golf shelters, tents of any kinds, baseball dugouts, sheds and greenhouses.
- A safe vehicle is any fully enclosed metal-topped vehicle such as a hard-topped car, minivan, bus, truck, etc. While inside a safe vehicle, do not use electronic devices such as radio communications during a thunderstorm. If you drive into a thunderstorm, slow down and use extra caution. If possible, pull off the road into a safe area. Do not leave the vehicle during a thunderstorm.
- Unsafe vehicles include golf carts, convertibles, motorcycles or any open cab vehicle.
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Rain? St. George? Nope, not gonna happen. With a 20% forecast you won’t see much more than a few high clouds float past. It’s gotta be at least a 80% chance to see any sprinkles.
Well, it happened. I agree that you can’t count on the forecast. For today, WeatherNation forecast a 20% chance, The Weather Channel, 60%. Looks as though Weather Channel wins this one.
80 % gets you sprinkles..10 % will cause a flood