540 FXUS65 KSLC 182317 AFDSLC Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Salt Lake City UT 1018 AM MST Wed Nov 18 2020 .SYNOPSIS...A couple of weak troughs will push a cold front into northern Utah this afternoon and into southern Utah by Thursday afternoon. Strong southwest winds will prevail ahead of this front then shift to westerly and decrease in the wake of the front. A series of weak weather systems will maintain periods of unsettled weather over mainly the northern half of Utah into the early part of next week. && .SHORT TERM (THROUGH 12Z SATURDAY)...The upstream shortwave trough continues to eject northeast towards Canada this afternoon, but the associated cold front has now made it through much of northern Utah. This front will progress just a bit farther south before stalling across central Utah this evening. Winds behind the front, while still gusty, have trended downward from earlier readings. Meanwhile, ahead of the front, the winds remain strong with widespread gusts exceeding 40 mph across west-central and southwest Utah. These gusty winds are expected to continue through the early evening hours before weakening. Temperatures have dropped markedly behind the front. Earlier, SLC broke a record high with 69 degrees, but since has fallen to the mid 50s. Because the front has been gradually trending weaker as it progressed through northern Utah, precipitation associated with the front has been rather unimpressive, with mostly a few hundredths of an inch here and there across the northern mountains. Radar continues to indicate weak returns over northern Utah and southwest Wyoming, but the dry airmass at the lower levels have been difficult to overcome. Expect light precipitation, mainly in the form of high- elevation snow but rain in most lower valleys, to continue overnight. A second, trailing, shortwave disturbance will graze northern Utah around midday tomorrow. Ahead of it, a reinforcing cold front will push into northern Utah. This should help enhance precipitation a bit late tonight into tomorrow morning over northern Utah and portions of central Utah near the boundary. The surface front itself will eventually make it to southern Utah tomorrow afternoon, but should be fairly shallow and weak, so precipitation is not expected across the south. Afternoon max temperatures tomorrow will trend more towards Climo across northern Utah, although southern Utah will remain warmer than Climo given the shallow nature of the front. Another weak shortwave trough is progged to cross the area on Friday. Some models continue to indicate some light precipitation associated with weak low-level convergence focused near Juab/Utah Counties into the Uintas. Dynamically still rather unimpressive and lacking deep moisture, so no signficant issues expected with this trough at this time. && .AVIATION...VFR conditions are expected at KSLC through the valid TAF period. Southerly wind gusts over 25 mph is expected to continue through 00Z. A dry cold front will transition winds to the west around 21Z and eventually northwest by 00Z. Wind speeds are expected to gradually decrease through that time. There is a slight chance for a light rain shower between 10Z-14Z. Beyond that, CIGs will increase and light northwest winds are expected into much of the afternoon. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...Wind Advisory until 7 PM MST this evening for UTZ014>016. WY...None. && $$ Cheng/Wilson For more information from NOAA's National Weather Service visit... http://weather.gov/saltlakecity For frequently asked questions about the Area Forecast Discussion visit... http://weather.gov/saltlakecity/general/afd_faqs.php