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SALT LAKE CITY — Residents across Utah reported brown snow, a phenomenon explained by National Weather Service Salt Lake City and KSL's chief meteorologist.
According to NWS, the snow turns brown as pollutants are picked up by the snow or dirt kicked up in the air by strong winds.
"Strong winds associated with our storm today picked up dust and salt and mixed it with our snow. This caused a 'brown snow' to fall over many areas along the Wasatch Front and Tooele valley. While this has happened before, it is definitely not a common event and caught many people off guard," said KSL's Chief Meteorologist Kevin Eubank.
We've had reports of brownish snow across the SL valley. Usually caused by pollutants picked up by the snow as it falls. In this case possibly also dirt kicked up in the air by the strong winds to our W and NW and transported here. #utwx
— NWS Salt Lake City (@NWSSaltLakeCity) February 6, 2021
A wind advisory went into effect at 6 p.m. on Friday and is expected to extend through 5 a.m. Saturday. NWS reported strong winds are expected to develop in the Castle Country area with gusts up to 55 mph.
