1. Veronica Dolan and Christina Persch
Utah Verification
Veronica Dolan and Christina Persch

2. Fun Facts Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics
Home of Rainbow Bridge, which is the world’s largest natural bridge (290 feet above the floor of Bridge Canyon and 270 feet long)
Jello capital of the world

3. Synoptic SEtup 12Z)

4. Synoptic SEtup 18Z)

5. Synoptic SEtup 00Z)

6. Synoptic SEtup 06Z)

7. Synoptic SEtup 12Z)

8. Forecast challenges Data sparse areas, particularly the southeast
Snowfall amounts
Precipitation analysis in constant state of fluctuation while going through verification
Wind chill analysis
Severe wind analysis

9. Categories Not Considered
11. Icestorm
14. Blowing Dust
16. Smoke
19. Extreme Chill
21. Nuisance Flood
22. Flash Flood
23. Stream Flood
24. River Flood
26. Thunderstorm
27. Severe Thunderstorm

10. Verification Procedure
METAR Data
CooP/CoCoRahs
Mesonet!/Mesowest
Public Information Statement (snow/some precip amounts/some wind)
Total QPF/Snowfall Analysis

11. Total QPf

12. 24 hour snowfall analysis

13. Flurries CoCoRaHS, public information sheet
Filled in gaps with 24 hour snowfall amounts

14. Snow Shower CoCoRaHS, public information sheet
Filled in gaps with 24 hour snowfall amounts

15. Snow Squall CoCoRaHS, public information sheet
Filled in gaps with 24 hour snowfall amounts

16. Light Snow CoCoRaHS, public information sheet
Filled in gaps with 24 hour snowfall amounts

17. moderate snow CoCoRaHS, public information sheet
Filled in gaps with 24 hour snowfall amounts

18. heavy Snow CoCoRaHS, public information sheet
Filled in gaps with 24 hour snowfall amounts

20. Very heavy snow?

21. Very Heavy snow

22. Blizzard Mesonet for wind, METARS for visibility
Took elevation into account

23. High winds
Mesonet
Mesowest

24. Severe winds
Mesonet
Mesowest

25. Blowing and drifting snow
METARS, looked over verifications for snow

26. Fog
Took elevation into account, although some ASOS stations did verify

27. Wind Chill
Mesonet
Looking at mountains, but temps and corresponding wind speeds weren’t enough to drop it like it’s cooollld

28. Freeze/Frost
METARS and mesonet/mesowest

29. Lightning
PSU E-Wall (US Lightning Hourly)

32. Temp >= 60°F
Mesonet/Mesowest

33. Temp <= 40°F
Mesonet/Mesowest

34. P>=0.25"
CoCoRaHS, QPF Analysis, Mesowest

35. Lessons Learned
“We really wanted to verify a lot of zones but the data just didn't support it”
Gaps in data can cause difficulties
QPF/Snowfall Analysis were a good starting point for for snow and rain
CooP/CocoRahs was also a good starting point however, mesonet was a major source for data and the public information sheet backed up those verifications