Snow and sun: Why Utah’s weather is so unpredictable

Spring in Utah is full of sunshine, snow, rain and sunshine again. But why? Is this normal? Is it only Utah? Why does it seem like winter just won’t give up?

Climatologists say it’s normal for spring to be bipolar, and it isn’t just Utah.

“Spring is a transition time between winter and summer; we are getting more solar radiations which drives the high pressure and low pressure systems,” said Robert Gillies, the director of the Climate Center and a Utah State University climatologist. “Spring comes with a high degree of variability.”

Spring is just that time of year that change happens, he said, but it doesn’t come all at once. It’s a gradual event.

“We see very warm days … when the high pressure sets in, and a warm, southerly wind comes in, providing a spike in temperature,” Gillies said. “With a low-pressure system, we see a drop in temperatures, and along with that, storms.”

Spring is a transition period, but it seems like Utah is especially bad. One day it’s 30 degrees and snowing and one day it’s 78 degrees and sunny. There was evidence of that last week. Thursday, it was a beautiful, sunny day everyone was outside and soaking up the sunshine. By Saturday, it was pouring rain and there were cooler temperatures.

In recent years there have been hotter-than-usual temperatures and colder-than-usual temperatures in the spring.

“When temperatures are hot, they are a lot hotter than they should be, and when temperatures are cold, they are a lot colder,” Gillies said. “This is very likely caused by the climate change we are currently experiencing.”

Some years spring is a very frustrating season, and other years it seems like there is no spring at all. Some years it goes from winter straight into summer without any real gradual transition, said Lawrence Hipps, a professor in atmospheric science at Utah State.

“April and May are the wettest months out of the year, and eventually the sun will win and the jet stream gets so far north that it very rarely reaches down, and then we finally enter summer,” Hipps said. “It’s business as usual in the region we live in. And ultimately this is all caused by the earth’s position around the sun.”

Weather reports say it will be rainy all week, so don’t forget your umbrella. But look forward to the Monday of finals week, as reports say it will be in the 70s with sunshine.

-zrogers2222@icloud.com