Lake Effect and Other Weird Stuff

Over the past hour we have seen a broad band of precipitation develop to the south of the Great Salt Lake with embedded convection (>35 dBZ) over the south arm of the lake.

The convection over the lake is likely lake enhanced, so I'm willing to call this a lake-effect event.  Why the broader precipitation shield extends so far from the lee of the lake is a bit of a mystery, but perhaps larger-scale processes are contributing since we still have the trailing portion of the frontal cloud and precipitation band over us.

Winds on Promontory Point are out of the northwest and there is a clear contrast between the flows to the east and west of the lake.  Along the Lakeside Mountains, the flow is out of the west, whereas it is more northwesterly in the Ogden area, indicating the development of overlake convergence.

The westerly flow over the lake-side mountains has intensified over the last couple of hours, which we see as a good sign for the lake-effect to continue and perhaps spread into the Salt Lake Valley.

Indeed we're hoping that things will shift to the east a bit as the Oquirrh Mountains block our view from the DOW of the Tooele Valley and western Great Salt Lake.

Finally, the relative humidity at Lakeside Mountain and Locomotive Springs to the north of the lake is 100% and 77% respectively.  It never hurts to have upstream moisture to play with.