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SALT LAKE CITY — Wednesday's rainfall totals in Utah were good enough to make up for a summer that has been, to this point, extremely dry.
The statewide storm, spread out between southern and northern Utah, brought "the entire summer's rain in a single day," said KSL meteorologist Kevin Eubank. For example, Salt Lake City received 1.31 inches on Wednesday, which is more than double its August normal and nearly 22 times the amount it received throughout all of July.
The city's precipitation collection since Jan. 1 also jumped up from 0.59 inches below normal after Tuesday to 0.71 inches above normal after Wednesday, while its water year — its precipitation collection since Oct. 1, 2022 — moved up to 15.74 inches, surpassing the city's normal water year average of 15.52 inches with two months left in the water year, according to National Weather Service data.
Here are other areas that also received heavy amounts of precipitation on Wednesday:
- Magna: 2.74 inches
- West Valley City: 2.67 inches
- Dugway: 1.66 inches
- Kaysville: 1.47 inches
- Vineyard: 1.25 inches
- Eagle Mountain: 1.13 inches
- Randolph, Rich County: 1.04 inches
- Geola, Utah County: 1.01 inches
- Fruit Heights: 0.99 inches
- Nephi: 0.96 inches
- Hurricane, Washington County: 0.96 inches
- East Layton: 0.83 inches
- Herriman: 0.75 inches
- St. George: 0.42 inches
Most of the prolific rain totals are the result of what's called a training storm, a system that rebuilds in place, producing significant rainfalls in a single place, KSL meteorologist Matt Johnson explained. This is why some areas experienced flooding and ponding.
In addition to flash flood warnings, the storm caused 12 flight delays and one cancellation at the Salt Lake City International Airport, according to Nancy Volmer, the airport's director of communications.
These same types of systems have lingered into Thursday. The National Weather Service reported shortly before 8 a.m. that a weather station near Corinne received more than an inch of rain in a 45-minute span Thursday morning.
The low-pressure system that drove the moisture into the state Wednesday remained over northern Utah and southern Idaho Thursday morning, producing the morning showers, Johnson said. He expects the storms from the system to clear out closer to 2 p.m., as it moves more into Idaho and Wyoming.
A flood watch for the Wasatch Front and northern Utah expires in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, more scattered showers and thunderstorms are likely across the state throughout Thursday from another wave of moisture.
"We're not out of the woods just yet," Johnson said. "By (Friday), drier air filters in ... as we calm things down."
The National Weather Service wrote that flash flooding is still possible across Utah's national parks and other popular outdoor recreation places on Thursday, a downgrade from "expected" and "probable" on Wednesday. It drops down to "not expected" on Friday as the storm systems clear out.
The current forecast calls for mostly dry conditions to linger into the weekend. High temperatures are forecast to top out in the upper 80s and lower 90s across the Wasatch Front, and the lower 100s in St. George.
Full seven-day forecasts for areas across Utah can be found online, at the KSL Weather Center.
