Mountain West Discussion

[Front Ranger]

SLC is another well documented case of increased UHI effect. Probably a significant factor here.

[Black Hole]

Setting a new max-min and tying or nearly tying it three other nights in the same week is no small feat. Seems to be the story of the summer in the west in recent years, though.

 

Was there night/ downslope wind?

 

Dewpoint temps?

 

Definitely some UHI as was mentioned, but this has been the perfect pattern for some real nighttime warmth here. Gusty southerlies all week combined with a very warm atmosphere has prevented decoupling at night. Dew points have been typical, 35-50. 

 

SLC has not seen more than a couple of record lows in the last decade, while at the same time we have had a ton of warm records broken. It's probably like a 20-1 ratio (for records), pretty sad. 

[Front Ranger]

Definitely some UHI as was mentioned, but this has been the perfect pattern for some real nighttime warmth here. Gusty southerlies all week combined with a very warm atmosphere has prevented decoupling at night. Dew points have been typical, 35-50.

 

SLC has not seen more than a couple of record lows in the last decade, while at the same time we have had a ton of warm records broken. It's probably like a 20-1 ratio (for records), pretty sad.

Far different story here. It's probably been more like 2 or 3 to 1.

 

I know the warmth has been legitimate, but are there any nearby stations with less UHI changes to compare to SLC?

[Black Hole]

Far different story here. It's probably been more like 2 or 3 to 1.

 

I know the warmth has been legitimate, but are there any nearby stations with less UHI changes to compare to SLC?

There are no other major stations. There are some minor ones like Provo or Ogden. I would have to look into it to see how they have done. 

[Black Hole]

So far the SLC station has hit 103F today, I think that is number 9 for the year.

 

Seems pretty clear that the station is running warm lately (last couple months) but either way its still roasting hot. 

 

Some indication of some weak monsoonal moisture working its way north later this week, if so, it will be welcome. 

[Front Ranger]

Could be an interesting afternoon here.

 

Northeast winds moving into the Front Range later today and a
short wave trough passing to the north Colorado are expected to
produce at least scattered thunderstorms this afternoon and
evening. Airmass is set up for severe storms today with some super
cell thunderstorms likely. The 12z sounding at DNR showed very
steep lapse rate between 700mb and 500mb. Veering winds and CAPE
up to 3000 J/kg could lead to some very big hail.

Best chance for thunderstorms is expected to occur behind a
boundary that is expected to crash into the Front Range late this
afternoon. Northeast winds to 40 mph will be possible for a short
time behind this boundary.

[Jesse]

At Big Sky resort now. We just had a pretty major thunderstorm roll through with heavy rain and frequent lightning. 

 

Dropped the temp from mid-80s to low-60s within a half hour.

[Dan the Weatherman]

Anyone have any idea what has happened to the NWS Arizona Hourly Weather Roundup page?  Any attempt to access it by any means takes me to the Central Region Headquarters Product Listing Index page.  The HWR pages for Oregon and California still work fine; I haven't checked others.

 

I am able to access the AZ NWS Hourly Roundup page through the "Additional Observations" page on Seattle NWS' page. The link is posted below:

 

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/sew/get.php?wfo=sew&sid=AZ&pil=RWR

[Jesse]

We're feeling the cooler lows out here in SW Montana too.

 

36 in Big Sky this morning, almost ten degrees colder than yesterday morning's 45.

[Black Hole]

We're feeling the cooler lows out here in SW Montana too.

 

36 in Big Sky this morning, almost ten degrees colder than yesterday morning's 45.

Very different up there. My low of 68F was the coolest I have had for a little while.

 

The streak of 100F days is at 8 in a row at SLC, and 10 of the last 12. Should be one more today.

[Jesse]

Very different up there. My low of 68F was the coolest I have had for a little while.

 

The streak of 100F days is at 8 in a row at SLC, and 10 of the last 12. Should be one more today.

We're a little over 6,000' in elevation so that probably helps.

 

Is that a pretty standard summer heatwave in SLC?

[Front Ranger]

Looks like we cool into the 70s later this week. And maybe I'll finally pick up some meaningful rainfall. I've never had to water as much as I have this summer.

[Black Hole]

We're a little over 6,000' in elevation so that probably helps.

 

Is that a pretty standard summer heatwave in SLC?

Not exactly, record is 10 in a row. So I'd say this is up there with the greats in terms of duration, although there have been more intense ones as the highest reading was 104. 

[Black Hole]

95F at noon here, should be the last 100F day for a while, hopefully this year! Scatted convection at times this week; hope I finally get some rain.

[Black Hole]

Managed 95F today at KSLC, felt cooler! 92F at my house. 

Down to 72F this evening, I can live with that. Looks like a chance of showers for Friday still. 

[Front Ranger]

Wonderfully cool today, with a high of only 74. Tomorrow should be even a couple degrees cooler, with more widespread showers.

 

I'm having a BBQ Saturday, and with my luck that will be the one day with serious precipitation at my place this summer. <_>

[Black Hole]

Should be a few showers around today finally. Hoping I can get something.

[Black Hole]

Ended up with .14" over the weekend. Should have been more, but I will take what I can get as it was nice to see. Next rain chance is Wed evening. 

[Black Hole]

It's been a boring week, hot and dry. Looks like a slight chance of showers the next few days. Should have potential for microbursts with the dry boundary layer. 

[Front Ranger]

Very dry at my house this summer. Haven't had a real soaking rain in a month and a half.

[Front Ranger]

Looking wonderfully cool here the next few days.

[Black Hole]

Still hot and dry, but with the longer nights it's getting better. Decent out there this evening. No meaningful rain here since late may.

 

Looks like a cold front from Wyoming tomorrow night should bring in some chilly air. Lows near 50-55 at my place sat morning. No rain in sight.

[Front Ranger]

54 here right now

[Black Hole]

Not nearly that cool over here, but we had some relief as a little cooler air spilled in. Another cool down for Wed. Shorter days are starting to take their toll on the heat

[Front Ranger]

High of just 66 here today under cloudy skies and some evening rain.

[Black Hole]

Had a low of 55 this morning, just creeping into the low 70s now with cloudy skies. First day that sort of feels a bit fall like. 

[Front Ranger]

I was concerned about this summer being a really hot one, but it hasn't been too bad. A few days in June, and one week in July. Otherwise it's been ok, with just moderate heat, and fairly frequent cool downs.

 

August is running about a degree below normal with no extreme heat, definitely the best of the 3 summer months.

[Anti Marine Layer]

After a slow start, the monsoon season in Arizona has over-performed.  Flagstaff set daily rainfall records both yesterday and today, and the August monthly total to date of 6.34" is the second wettest recorded, next to 1986's 8.06".

 

For the last 2 days the storminess was enhanced by the unseasonably strong low pressure system that also brought our very deep marine layer in Southern California.

 

Temperatures have also been well below normal with all the monsoon activity. Sedona was only 77 for the last 2 days. Normal for this time of year is in the 90s. Flagstaff also dropped to a stunningly low 45 F with a storm on Friday just after noon. Once again more like an early fall storm system than a typical monsoon.

[Black Hole]

This has been a really bad year for me, so I am glad that some others are doing better. Basically I have seen one decent thunderstorm this summer, pretty sad. 
 

Looking ahead models are advertising a chance of rain the middle of the week, but not a good chance. 

[Dan the Weatherman]

Las Vegas and vicinity had some impressive thunderstorms last week. One of the bloggers on WeatherWest (a weather blog devoted to mostly California weather) uploaded a video of a thunderstorm that he took while visiting there, and posted several pics of lightning as well.

[Black Hole]

Las Vegas and vicinity had some impressive thunderstorms last week. One of the bloggers on WeatherWest (a weather blog devoted to mostly California weather) uploaded a video of a thunderstorm that he took while visiting there, and posted several pics of lightning as well.

If it looks good, go ahead and post the link. 

[Black Hole]

Definitely signs of fall. The next few days will still be hot with 700mb temps of +12 to +15C, but next week looks like +5 to +8C for several days.

[Black Hole]

A troughy September is something I haven't seen in a while. At least the first week of Sep looks to feature just that. 

[Dan the Weatherman]

If it looks good, go ahead and post the link. 

 

The link is http://www.weatherwest.com. Since this is a WordPress blog, you will have to scroll through a number of comments to reach the video and the lightning photos, which were posted a few days ago.

[Black Hole]

It was a hot summer. 

[Black Hole]

I suppose the good news is that although I don't believe in the hot summer=cold/snowy winter nonsense...most of the other hot summers did feature at least decent winters

[Front Ranger]

August ended -1.3 at DEN. Met summer overall was warm, but nowhere near top warm.

[Guest happ]

It was a hot summer. 

 

I did not realize how hot Salt Lake City can get [all those 100+ days]

[Black Hole]

I did not realize how hot Salt Lake City can get [all those 100+ days]

Yep, its pretty torrid, but tomorrow will be the last day with a shot of 90+ for a while, perhaps this year. I certainly hope so. 

 

We actually had a stretch of 8 days of 100+ if I remember right. 

[Black Hole]

I had .09" with a shower yesterday. There were a few rumbles of thunder too.