Morning thunderstorms rake the Wasatch Front as Widemouth 2 crews hold their lines
Strong thunderstorms rolled across the Wasatch Front this morning, and the National Weather Service spent the morning telling everyone to get inside.
At 8:39 AM, Doppler radar tracked a line of storms from Emigration Canyon to Brigham Young University, moving northeast at 35 mph. The hazard was penny-size hail, which is the weather service's polite way of saying your car might get dented. The storms covered Salt Lake City, Provo, Park City, Heber, and most points in between, plus stretches of I-15, I-80, and I-84. Earlier cells dropped half-inch hail near Heber and Pleasant Grove and nickel-size hail up in Cache Valley.
A "special weather statement" is one notch below a warning. Translation: nothing is officially dangerous yet, but the sky is thinking about it. Commuters on I-15 between mile markers 259 and 278 and I-80 between 124 and 175 drove through the worst of it.
Meanwhile in central Utah, the Widemouth 2 Fire is holding its lines at 98 percent contained. The lightning-caused fire started July 27 on the Fillmore Ranger District and has burned 129,742 acres across Millard and Sevier counties, which makes it one of the biggest fires in the state this year. All evacuation orders have been lifted. The fire turned deadly on August 7, when a Sikorsky Skycrane helicopter fighting it crashed in steep terrain east of Fillmore, killing both pilots.
The timing is either lucky or cruel, depending on your zip code. Rain on a fire is a gift. Dry lightning on a fire is an arsonist. Today's storms are hitting the north. Fire country in the south will have to wait and see what the sky delivers.
What to watch: whether this moisture reaches southern Utah as rain or as dry lightning with gusty winds, which is how September starts new fires.
Sources
- Special Weather Statement, issued 8:39 AM MDT Sept 18 by NWS Salt Lake City (mirror of the NWS alert feed; penny-size hail, storm line from Emigration Canyon to BYU) - Special Weather Statement, issued 7:40 AM MDT Sept 18 by NWS Salt Lake City (mirror; half-inch hail near Heber City) - Special Weather Statement, issued 6:59 AM MDT Sept 18 by NWS Salt Lake City (mirror; half-inch hail over Pleasant Grove) - Special Weather Statement, issued 7:00 AM MDT Sept 18 by NWS Salt Lake City (mirror; nickel-size hail near Tremonton and Cache Valley) - Widemouth 2 Fire incident information, InciWeb (129,742 acres, Fishlake National Forest, Fillmore Ranger District)