A tornado warning for parts of the Wasatch Front and northern Utah has expired, but the chance for strong and severe thunderstorms is expected to persist Friday afternoon.
The National Weather Service issued the tornado warning shortly before 1:45 p.m., after weather spotters reported a funnel cloud and radar indicated the potential for tornadic activity.
It’s unclear if a tornado actually touched down.
The warning applied to parts of Davis, Morgan and Weber counties, including cities like Farmington, Layton and Kaysville. A severe thunderstorm warning will expire for similar areas at 3 p.m.
KSL reporters and viewers reported large hail in the area, some of it appearing ping-pong-sized, as the alerts also warned. Utah transportation cameras also showed ponding along parts of I-15 where the storm passed through.
The National Weather Service previously advised that there would be a marginal risk for severe storms across Utah’s northern half on Friday.
A low-pressure system moving toward Utah from the Pacific Northwest is forecast to collide with subtropical moisture moving from the southwest, creating shear and stronger thunderstorms, KSL meteorologist Matt Johnson explained.
Scattered thunderstorms are possible throughout the evening, beginning to lose strength as the day continues, he said. Some additional showers are possible on Saturday, but cooler and drier conditions are forecast for most of the weekend.
Storms rarely become strong enough to produce a tornado warning, though. Friday’s warning is only the second that the weather service’s Salt Lake City office has issued this year. One it issued for Tooele County last month was its first since 2011.
Federal meteorologists ultimately determined that an EF-1 tornado touched down about 3 miles northeast of Dugway last month. Utah averages about two tornadoes every year.