Up to 10 inches of snow is expected to fall in southwestern Utah in the Great Basin Desert region, prompting the National Weather Service (NWS) to issue a winter weather warning for the area.
The warning will remain in place until 11 p.m. local time Thursday, and meteorologists warned that the highest snowfall is expected in the Tushar Mountains and Brian Head area in west-central Utah. A low-pressure system is bringing the snow to the U.S. West, the NWS report said, and winter weather warnings also are in place for Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona.
"Plan on potential winter driving conditions, particularly along higher mountain routes and passes," the NWS office in Salt Lake City warned in its forecast.
The Great Basin Desert encompasses a large swath of Nevada, and extends into the western half of Utah, the southern tip of Oregon, a small patch in southeastern Idaho and a line along eastern California. Snow is not uncommon throughout the Great Basin, the National Park Service (NPS) reported.
"The climate is affected by the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains. It is a temperate desert with hot, dry summers and snowy winters," the NPS said on a webpage about the region.
After the snow stops on Thursday night, NWS meteorologist Nicole DeSmet told Newsweek, the region will remain dry for the near future.
"After this one, we dry out and we don't have a big storm on the horizon," she said.
"A winter storm will bring accumulating mountain snow along with valley rain with snow, at times, beginning early Thursday morning and lasting through most of the day," NWS Salt Lake City posted on X, formerly Twitter, with a map of the anticipated snowfall amounts across the state.
A winter storm will bring accumulating mountain snow along with valley rain with snow, at times, beginning early Thursday morning and lasting through most of the day. Valleys that see snow will generally see only T-2 inches. #utwx #wywx pic.twitter.com/yTgGzMVFAI
— NWS Salt Lake City (@NWSSaltLakeCity) January 25, 2024
The snowy weather in the desert mountains of Utah comes as the eastern half of the U.S. battles unseasonably warm temperatures. Excessive rainfall in the Mississippi Valley region has prompted the NWS to issue a slew of flood warnings. One city in Texas received nearly 12 inches of rain in a 72-hour period. Louisiana also experienced extensive flooding.
Flood warnings remained in place for Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee as of Thursday afternoon.
Dense fog also has posed a problem for most of the U.S., and the NWS issued a dense fog advisory for 28 states earlier in the day, and the fog was estimated to have impacted 100 million people.
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Anna Skinner is a Newsweek senior reporter based in Indianapolis. Her focus is reporting on the climate, environment and weather ... Read more
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