Winter Weather Coming To Southern Utah….Maybe

I sometimes think I've irritated the folks up at the Salt Lake City forecast office of the National Weather Service. I have, at some times, indicated that there have been occasions when what has been forecast for our area has not always been what actually happens. Now, that's not that big a deal as weather is an inexact science to some degree, so there will probably be some miscues.

But what has me puzzled at this time is what seems to be the hesitancy to issue advisories and warning from the Salt Lake office. Right now, it's Wednesday afternoon March 5th, there is (finally!) a forecast for snow in the Cedar City area and it looks like we are in for some snow

As I look at the regional map at this time I see a Winter Storm Warning issued from the Las Vegas Office for Lincoln County. They are forecasting three to six inches of snow for Caliente and most of the County.The Flagstaff office has advisories out for northern Arizona with five to ten inches forecast for Jacob Lake

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And, if you look at the forecast for Cedar City from the Salt Lake office they are saying that we could get around two inches. Sounds great, right? The question I have however, is why our forecasters are holding off on issuing an advisory?

I mean, a storm with two to four inches of snow is a pretty common occurrence for Cedar City, so it might seem kind of a ho-hum thing. And maybe three to six inches of snow in Caliente is more of an issue than two to four inches here, but I would think we should be given a heads up as soon as it is warranted.

And it seems as I have been looking at these regional maps for a good deal of time, the advisories and warnings for Utah more often come later than those from other forecast offices.

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I'm not suggesting that our forecast office employ a “chicken little” mentality and try to cause fear and panic for those of us traveling the roads here in the winter time. But, timely information is important as we plan travel in the area, especially of that travel takes us beyond the boundaries of our communities.

As it is as I write this, there is not advisory for the Cedar City area, or really any of the valley locations in Utah, with the exceptions of higher mountain valleys, such as Heber City.

However, there is a Winter Storm Warning for essentially all of the mountains of Utah. That includes our southern mountains where they are forecasting “total accumulations between 1 and 2 feet.”