Flash flood threat elevated across central and southern Utah- Wednesday, July 22

[00:00:00]Well, some of us are begging to end summer with this weather that's going on. Boy, I've been talking about the summer of extremes. We've had the extreme heat, the wildfires, and now the flooding where overnight we've had some rain showers, even heavy at times, and areas currently under flash flood warnings. Not here along the Wasatch Front, but we are seeing the rain, particularly as we look at Utah County.

[00:00:20]Utah traffic here, I-15, looking at Spanish Fork, you're seeing the rain falling, standing water concerns in that area for your morning commute as this uh at least for Utah County we'll be looking at the possibility of some rain showers. But again, overnight getting slammed across portions of central and southern Utah, those showers having an impact near the Cottonwood fire burn scar. Leaning eastward where the drainage flow coming through over towards 89, so in between Marysvale and Junction, that's where we've been looking at the concern here as we still have that flash flood warning in effect.

[00:00:53]Again, that flow where we've seen the debris flow come across 89, they've had to shut down portions of 89 in that area here. As we'll hold on to that flood warning until 6:00 a.m., then we'll be okay even though we'll continue to see some rain showers. Not as intense, you can really start to see the color change in radar where you had orange and yellow, now just green. And when we see that light green, we're looking at lighter precipitation. But the darker green, more moderate there as we're seeing Spanish Fork moving up through Spanish Fork Canyon and then tracking over towards Utah Lake potentially having an impact for areas such as Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain as well. So yes, for the morning commute towards Utah County at the south end of Salt Lake Valley, we can see those rain showers. And then the focus turning towards Box Elder County right now. So the moisture still in place, wrapping around this high pressure, but it's beginning to shift eastward where a bigger focus of the concern for the rain and the heavier rain showers where flood watches are in effect all across eastern Utah. This will be the hot zone today for the potential of seeing more flash flooding. But, again, towards southern Utah, it just takes an isolated thunderstorm where we have that risk of flash flooding as it's a higher probability here for most locations.

[00:02:06]But, by tomorrow, it's looking a little bit more of a focus where it is still a possibility, but the trend decreasing here as we look towards the weekend.

[00:02:15]But, let's take a look across southern Utah and looking at the future models here, what they're indicating. Morning, we're fine. Afternoon, things begin to change. Capitol Reef towards Zion National Park, we're seeing that impact throughout the afternoon. And then, once again, going through uh looks like Escalante, heading up to near Beaver for the afternoon to the early evening hours. Another time frame where we're going to have some heightened concern and keeping our eye to the sky. Now, that's across southern Utah here as we look as we go into Thursday morning.

[00:02:43]Now, as we take a look as going across northern Utah, we can see those showers coming through. Again, here heading into the afternoon with a bigger focus for Utah and Salt Lake counties. And then, we track towards the northeast heading into tomorrow morning. So, looking across the state, temperatures a little bit cooler cuz we'll have that extra cloud cover. And again, that focus of showers moving through the afternoon where across eastern Utah, it will be much more of a concern here. Where for St. George, trending drying out except Friday, there's a slight chance of seeing an isolated shower. And then, it's very toasty heading into the weekend. Northern Utah, today is the best chance of seeing those scattered rain showers. Saturday, mainly isolated mountain showers, but all in all, we're drying out, seeing the sunshine, and seeing the heat as temperatures get close to 100°. And that's a look at the weather. Now, let's turn to traffic and see what we're finding out there right now. Katya?