Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Summer Thunder

I woke up last night at 11:40 to strobing lights. A long line of thunderstorms stretched from Richfield to the Utah-Idaho border. This morning I measured 0.26 inches of rain in south Provo.
Radar 11:50 PM, Local Time

It was a forecast miss for the HRRR model, which didn't simulate this particular line of thunderstorms until the analysis hour. This is an important lesson on not using weather models as deterministic forecasts for thunderstorm prediction. This loop of HRRR forecasts shows all 18 forecasts and the analysis valid at 0600 UTC (local midnight). Beyond the first two hours, there is no warning of this particular line of storms.

Started a small fire on Y-Mountain: https://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/central/provo/lightning-sparks-small-brush-fire-on-y-mountain/article_ad4d2531-58a6-5b62-800e-0e38e3be22ca.html

Gusty winds were observed across the state. The Salt Lake International Airport and many other locations along the Wasatch Front recorded winds exceeding 50 MPH between 11 and Midnight last night.

In Spanish Fork, recorded winds gusted ranged between 17 and 30 MPH.

UKBKB (bench): Max gust 17 MPH at 11:35 PM


C9348 (bench): Max gust 18 MPH at 11:33 PM


UCC13 (river bottoms): Max gust 30 MPH at 11:15 PM

KSLC (Salt Lake City International Airport): Max gust 50.6 MPH at 11:20 PM