SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, June 30, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — Mother Nature put on quite a show overnight as a series of rolling thunderstorms made their way across the Wasatch Front.
The storms barreled across Utah, Salt Lake and Tooele counties Wednesday night and into Thursday morning, and were marked by gusting winds, spectacular lightning, and occasional heavy downpours.
At 12:38 a.m. the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City tweeted “A few thunderstorms are developing across mainly Salt Lake and Utah Counties. Expect lightning and brief heavy rain with these storms.”
A couple of hours later, the NWS tweeted again.
“Thunderstorms continue to develop across the Tooele and Salt Lake Valleys,” the NWS posted at 3:16 a.m. “Brief heavy rain, lightning continue to be possible through around 5 a.m.”
Gephardt Daily photojournalist Monico Garza was prepping for the overnight shift when he caught an approaching squall as it lit the night sky over Lehi. Garza’s pictures tell the story. (He caught a previous lightning display Wednesday night. See gallery below.)
The storms not only illuminated the late evening skies, they also lit up social media, as Utahns flocked to their phones and keyboards to share in late night excitement.
“Omg the thunderbolt or whatever that just happened freaked me out so much I thought I was experiencing another earthquake,” wrote one panicked weather watcher.
“House is rattling in Liberty-Wells neighborhood of SLC,” wrote another.
“Thunder setting off car alarms in WVC right now!”
“I can hear the thunder in West Valley right now, sounds awesome. The dogs don’t like it however, lol,” tweeted another.
Monsoonal moisture making its way into Utah from Arizona has been fueling intense thunderstorms, resulting in flash flooding in parts of southern Utah.
According to the NWS, showers would linger into late morning with more storms expected to pop up in the afternoon.
“Some of the storms could produce gusty wind,” the NWS warned.
Tuesday night, Garza was once again “rocking the overnight news shift” when he caught another electrifying display in the skies over Utah County. Those photos were recorded Tuesday night.
To see these and other recent Gephardt Daily Pics of the Day see the gallery below.
Click on photos to enlarge.
