Salt Lake City sets new highest temperature ever in 152 years of record keeping

SALT LAKE CITY — Sunday was officially the hottest day in Utah’s capital city since records of the city’s data were first kept over 150 years ago.

The temperature at the National Weather Service’s official station near Salt Lake City International Airport reached as high as 109 degrees shortly before 3 p.m. It came approximately 20 minutes after hitting 108 degrees, surpassing the previous record of 107 degrees, first set on July 26, 1960, and matched four other times.

This weekend’s extreme heat, which prompted an excessive heat warning, is driven by a strong high-pressure system parked north of the Four Corners.

It has allowed for a warm-up that has rivaled other heat domes Salt Lake City and Utah have experienced over the past few years. Utah’s capital city matched its all-time heat record three times between 2021 and 2022.

The National Weather Service issued a notice late Saturday that gave Salt Lake City up to a 30% chance of surpassing its hottest temperature on record, but the record seemed inevitable once it reached 106 degrees by 1 p.m., a few hours before the city’s normal peak heat period.

Its 109 degrees was warmer than Las Vegas (106) and matched Phoenix’s high, but even hotter temperatures were recorded north of Utah thanks to the high-pressure system’s strength and setup. Billings, Montana, reached as high as 111 degrees.

A few other all-time record highs were also broken in Utah on Sunday, although many of those record books don’t go as far back as Salt Lake City’s. Most notably, one of Logan’s sites reached at least 106 degrees, surpassing a record of 103 set in 2002. Ogden matched its all-time high of 106 degrees.

Thanks to the placement of the system, St. George — the holder of Utah’s highest temperature ever officially recorded at 117 degrees — experienced similar temperatures as the Wasatch Front, hitting 106 degrees at its airport, keeping it away from record territory this weekend.

This weekend adds yet more high-temperature records for Utah, which experienced its warmest year on record in 2025 after an unusually warm end to the year, snapping a record dating back to the Dust Bowl era in 1934.

The state also shattered temperature records in March, following its warmest meteorological winter on record. It all culminated in a record-low snowpack that exacerbated drought and now wildfire conditions.

Monsoons enter the chat

Extreme heat warnings will last through Monday, but the odds of monsoonal storms also increase throughout the rest of the week as the high-pressure system moves east, said KSL meteorologist Kristin Van Dyke.

That seemed to begin Sunday evening, when the weather service issued severe thunderstorm warnings and severe weather advisories for southwest Utah’s mountainous areas.

More scattered storms are expected again on Monday, potentially spreading to other regions as early as Tuesday. The chance for monsoonal thunderstorms is highest in the mountains at the start of the workweek, but could reach the valleys toward the end of it, she said.

That could continue at the start of the following week as well.

Monsoonal showers have both benefits and risks. They can create large downpours that can cool temperatures and bring much-needed moisture, easing drought conditions and improving soil moisture levels.

However, lightning can also spark new wildfires, especially at the start of the monsoon before any of the moisture soaks vegetation. It can also generate flash floods in prone areas, like slot canyons and recent fire burn scars.

“We are getting into this pattern where we’re going to be tapping into a little bit more (Gulf) moisture, and that is going to help us get some storms for our mountains,” Van Dyke said. “We’re definitely going to have to keep a close eye on flash flooding … but at least it will help bring these temperatures down a bit.”

Full seven-day forecasts for areas across Utah can be found online at the KSL Weather Center.