Observations from the University of Utah show that the dewpoint climbed steadly from July 29th to today and now sits near 50˚F. This isn't "unprecedented" this month as we've eclipsed 50 during a couple of prior periods (and even hit 50), but still it is noticeable.
Looking at just the past 24-hours shows that the dewpoint peaked this morning and has actually dropped back a bit into the upper 40s.
Nevertheless, this is the beginning of a juicy period through at least Wednesday night and possibly into Thursday. The GFS forecast below shows a strong monsoon surge pushing into northern Utah tomorrow with enhanced vapor transport (lower right hand panel) coming up the lower Colorado River Valley and into northern Utah from the Gulf of California at 0000 UTC 2 August (6 PM MDT Tuesday).
That moisture remains resident over the area through Wednesday as a weak short-wave trough moves over the state as shown in the GFS forecast below for 0000 UTC 3 August (6 PM MDT Wednesday).
Thus, be on the alert for showers and thunderstorms through Wednesday night and possibly Thursday.
Looking forward to August, I would be curious to learn about any trends for when the SLC area begins to turn the corner (meteorologically speaking) from the dreaded July morass into the more tolerable temps and conditions found in late summer/early fall (e.g., daytime temps no higher than 80, nighttime temps no higher than 60). My personal observation from living in SLC for the last 5 years: we begin to observe cooler mornings/nights in August but we’re still in the morass as far as daytime temperatures go, and it’s not until September until we start to see more reasonable daytime temps (and even snow up high). Can you tell that I’m sick of summer already? Cheers.
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