Bonneville weather

[Seldom Seen Slim]

I think a topic for the weather out at Bville is worth trying.  Here we are on Tuesday - a few days after SpeedWeek was cancelled - and the radar out there right now shows that rain is a bit southwest of Wendover.  The text forecast shows 60% rain today and tonight and 50% tomorrow and tomorrow night.  All four forecasts say "could produce heavy rain".

Since we've got four more events to run this year I'd like to have the opportunity to keep current conditions and forecasts in an easy-to-find location here on the site.

Over to youse guys.

[hotrod]

I have been watching it myself for the same reason.
There are currently 2 warning boxes on radar about 50 miles south of Wendover the one hour rainfall from radar shows those areas have gotten some measurable rain.

http://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?rid=mtx&product=NCR&overlay=11101111&loop=no

[maj]

There was another cell went through about 2-3am Wendover time
but forcast is great after today

Good idea Slim

[Elmo Rodge]

I was just told Bonneville got dumped on again.  Wayno

[hotrod]

Radar shows measurable rain fall east of the Wendover area, but only small amounts on the race course area (at least for now).
The area south of the highway also got some good rains according to radar.

The port of entry cam does not show any heavy rain as of its last update at 17:30 but that could change with the loop updates.
Most of the state of Utah is under a flood watch at the moment so things could change fast as the evening wears on.


http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/slc/

go to the radar tab on the left and click composite loop to see the current precip pattern, or the 1 hour rainfall for a summary estimate by radar of how much rain fell.

[Sumner]

....or go here...

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=40.7371524&lon=-114.03751019999999&site=all&smap=1&searchresult=Wendover%2C%20UT%2C%20USA#.U-qwwqMxjF-

... and go down the page to the "RADAR & SATELLITE IMAGES" (right side of page) and click on the left one and then get the storm totals or 1 hour totals.  Looks like a trace for the track area for the storm event that is still in progress as I write this.

One problem in looking at the totals for the race surface only is that the hills to the west are like one huge parking lot.  If there is a downpour where the water runs off instead of soaking in they can send a deluge of water out onto the salt,

Sum

[Old Scrambler]

I like this....... .......two bikes getting ready for the road-trip to the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials. We leave next Wednesday. Thanks, Jon.

[hotrod]

Looks like the salt is about to get rained on weather radar shows storms tracking right across wendover and to the north of I80 at 9:30 PM 8/12/14 mountain time.

Storm total radar shows some of that area has received about .5 inches of rain.

[Sumner]

...Storm total radar shows some of that area has received about .5 inches of rain...

Yep, and unfortunately .....



... the area just to the west that drains onto the racing surface  ,

Sum

[hotrod]

Here is a more detailed radar image from a paid weather service I use.

shows a train of monsoon flow going over the area at 10:00 pm 8/12/14 so more precip likely tonight in that area.
Storms are tracking to the North east passing the Wendover Area just north of I80

[Jack Gifford]

... I'd like to have the opportunity to keep current conditions and forecasts in an easy-to-find location here on the site...

Seems to me like a good plan, Slim.

[donpearsall]

Does anyone know if there is still standing water on the racetrack? I see from the weather reports the area will have heavy rain today and there is a flooding warning. Just trying to gauge how fast the water drains off. The AMA/BST event is only 10 days from today.

Don

[jdincau]

You will have to hope that there is enough wind and heat to evaporate it, there is nowhere for it to drain to.

[hotrod]

Conditions are favorable for heavy rains in Nevada and Utah, precipitable water is between .99 inches and .91 inches in the Wendover area.
Precipitable water is the amount of water vapor available if it could be all squeezed out of the atmosphere, so sets an upper limit on how much rain can fall.
These values are between 1.8 and 1.4 x the normal for this month.

There is a bit of a convergence in place with two low pressure centers near the western border of Nevada/California which will tend to pump moisture into the north east quadrant of Nevada.
If you watch the weather radar loops the storm motion along the watsatch front range is to the north while out near Wendover the storm motion is from the south west to the north east.

This graphic will help you visualize that flow.
http://hint.fm/wind/

[hotrod]

This is the current flood watch text from the national Weather service (as of 14:05 8_13_14)

WGUS65 KSLC 130845
FFASLC

FLOOD WATCH
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT
245 AM MDT WED AUG 13 2014

UTZ001>016-019>021-517-518-132300-
/O.CON.KSLC.FF.A.0007.000000T0000Z-140814T0600Z/
/00000.0.ER.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.OO/
CACHE VALLEY/UTAH PORTION-NORTHERN WASATCH FRONT-
SALT LAKE AND TOOELE VALLEYS-SOUTHERN WASATCH FRONT-
GREAT SALT LAKE DESERT AND MOUNTAINS-WASATCH MOUNTAIN VALLEYS-
WASATCH MOUNTAINS I-80 NORTH-WASATCH MOUNTAINS SOUTH OF I-80-
WESTERN UINTA MOUNTAINS-WASATCH PLATEAU/BOOK CLIFFS-
WESTERN UINTA BASIN-CASTLE COUNTRY-SAN RAFAEL SWELL-
SANPETE/SEVIER VALLEYS-WEST CENTRAL UTAH-SOUTHWEST UTAH-
UTAHS DIXIE AND ZION NATIONAL PARK-SOUTH CENTRAL UTAH-
GLEN CANYON RECREATION AREA/LAKE POWELL-CENTRAL MOUNTAINS-
SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...LOGAN...SMITHFIELD...BRIGHAM CITY...
OGDEN...BOUNTIFUL...SALT LAKE CITY...TOOELE...LEHI...PROVO...
NEPHI...WENDOVER...SNOWVILLE...HUNTSVILLE...PARK CITY...
HEBER CITY...WOODRUFF...RANDOLPH...ALTA...BRIGHTON...
MIRROR LAKE HIGHWAY...SCOFIELD...DUCHESNE...ROOSEVELT...PRICE...
CASTLE DALE...EMERY...GREEN RIVER...HANKSVILLE...MANTI...
RICHFIELD...DELTA...FILLMORE...BEAVER...CEDAR CITY...MILFORD...
ST GEORGE...KANAB...ESCALANTE...BULLFROG...COVE FORT...
KOOSHAREM...FISH LAKE...LOA...PANGUITCH...BRYCE CANYON
245 AM MDT WED AUG 13 2014

...FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING...

THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES FOR

* ALL OF UTAH

* THROUGH THIS EVENING

* SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE AT
 TIMES ACROSS UTAH THROUGH THIS EVENING. THESE THUNDERSTORMS
 WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAINFALL.

* THE FLASH FLOOD THREAT WILL BE GREATEST ACROSS SLOT CANYONS...
 SLICK ROCK AREAS...NORMALLY DRY WASHES...SMALL STREAMS IN
 STEEP TERRAIN AND NEAR RECENT BURN SCARS. IN ADDITION...URBAN
 AREAS WITH POOR DRAINAGE WILL BE AT RISK OF FLOODING.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A FLASH FLOOD WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS MAY DEVELOP THAT LEAD
TO FLASH FLOODING. FLASH FLOODING IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION.

YOU SHOULD MONITOR LATER FORECASTS AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION
IF FLASH FLOOD IS OBSERVED OR WARNINGS ARE ISSUED.

&&

$$

ROGOWSKI/MERRILL

FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM NOAA/S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE VISIT...
HTTP://weather.gov/SALTLAKECITY (ALL LOWER CASE)