I noticed a light haze lingering in the Salt Lake Valley both Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. It's becoming that time of year where the sun angle is decreasing precipitously, and any cold air is starting to pool more stubbornly in the valley. Up high on the east bench, the inversion and associated aerosol layer was clearly visible.
This picture was only taken at about 5600-5700' ASL - which is about 1300' above the valley floor - and it seems the top of the inversion/aerosol level is about the same height. To verify, I took a look at the 00Z sounding from KSLC, which happened to approximately coincide with the timing of this photo.
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| Left: KSLC 00Z 10/8/2025 sounding skew-t; Right: KSLC 00Z 10/8/2025 sounding tabular data |
The 00Z KSLC sounding very clearly indicates a shallow inverted layer at about 1656-1728 m ASL or about 403 m (1342') above the valley floor. This indicates the hazy layer was at about the same level as the level the photo was taken.
By today (Thursday), we won't be worrying about any other inversions or haze for awhile. Winds will pick up out of the south as the upper-level pattern begins to shift and the airshed will mix out. More unstable conditions are expected going forward, with the big story continuing to be the multiple rounds of stormy activity this weekend. Utah will get the whole gambit of weather conditions including tropical moisture, thunderstorms, and higher elevation snow. Flooding will be a major threat for mountainous areas and southern parts of the state.
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| Left: WPC Excessive Rainfall Outlook for 10/10/2025; Right: WPC Forecast Chart Valid 10/10/2025 |
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