Do you smell that smell

I woke up last night to a strange smell. It took me a minute before I realized where the funk was permeating from... the Great Salt Lake. I had kept a northwesterly window open overnight to let in the cooler air, but in through that window wafted the gases of the GSL. For any resident along the Wasatch Front, the GSL stink is a reminder of home and also a reminder of the giant salt water puddle sitting in the middle of a desert. 

So why was I smelling the GSL funk last night, well an indecisive cool front/boundary is to blame. I noticed yesterday evening winds across the northern SL valley shifted W-NW after having consistently breezy winds out the the south all day. Winds largely stayed W-NW all night at KSLC, which is contrary to the usual southerly nighttime valley winds. It looks like the front waxed and waned across the northern half of the SL Valley overnight, before retrograding a bit to the north near sunrise. A quick HYSPLIT trajectory analysis, to see how air sourced from the GSL wetlands was transported between 1800 MDT to midnight, shows that it's likely that GSL air was advected through the northern tier of the SL valley last night... hence the smell.

Estimated frontal boundary overnight 9/11-9/12

Left: temp, rh, and dwpt; Right: wind speed and direction

HYSPLIT

500 mb gph, winds, and temp w/ composite radar

It's not uncommon for us valley folk to get a good drag of GSL gases after cold front pass over and shift winds out of the north, which just so happens to be the direction to transport GSL gases into the SL valley. So why was a cool front moving back and fort across the valley? Looking at the broader picture, we see that a slow moving upper level low, spinning across the Great Basin region. 

This upper level feature will bring a bit of a change up to the weather in through the next couple of days. Northern Utah will have the opportunity for a few scattered shower this afternoon/evening, but the main focus of precip will be in eastern/southeastern areas of the state where more moisture and forcing is available. There could even be a few stronger thunderstorms that develop. The SPC has a marginal risk for far eastern areas.

Later today this low will make some more easterly progress and the cool front will once again drift south and east across the SL valley. Will we smell that smell again? I'm not sure, but I will be welcoming in the cooler temps behind the cool front. Residual moisture hangs around Saturday, with a spotty afternoon showers/thunderstorms possible. May even see some snow above 9000-1000' in the Uintas under heavier rates. Things largely dry out and warm a tad by Sunday.