Utah
Utah's resorts receive 1st snow of the season. What does it mean for this winter?
LITTLE COTTONWOOD CANYON — Utah’s first snow of the season has indeed arrived.
“Woot. Let’s hope the first layers go down solid,” wrote one ski enthusiast in response to social media posts about this first snow, summarizing most of the reaction from the skiing and snowboarding community.
KSL meteorologist Matt Johnson said the snow line ended up about where it was projected, impacting many mountain areas at 9,000 feet elevation or higher, including mountains in southern Utah, like Eagle Point Resort in Beaver.
When snow typically returns
For instance, the first snow in Utah’s mountains two years ago came on Sept. 16.
Mountain communities like Alta typically receive about 2.7 inches of snow in September, based on National Weather Service data dating back to 2000. During that span, there were times it never snowed in September, but in several instances, at least a trace of snow fell in early to mid-September.
Utah’s high elevations once received a trace of snow as early as Aug. 10 in 2003, and, in 2006, Alta received 11 inches of snow from a Sept. 16 storm.
The National Weather Service has tracked Salt Lake City weather data since 1874. Nov. 8 is the average first snowfall date over that time, representing about the first time snow typically returns to the valleys.
But Tuesday also marks the 59th anniversary Alta received its earliest first snowfall on record. A little over 2 inches of snow fell within Utah’s capital from a storm on Sept. 17, 1965.
What does it mean for this winter?
An early first snowfall date doesn’t mean anything about what type of winter Utah will have.
“This does not have any correlation to what kind of snow season we’re looking at,” Johnson said. “Nonetheless, nice to see the snow this early.”
It’s still very unclear what type of winter Utah will have after the state ended up with back-to-back above-normal snowpack collections the past two winters.
The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction projects a La Niña oceanic pattern will return this winter, which doesn’t mean much in terms of Utah’s long-range forecast. La Niña generally produces wetter conditions in the Pacific Northwest and drier conditions in the Southwest, but Utah is typically caught in between with varying levels of precipitation success.
For example, its last La Niña winter produced a record-breaking 30-inch snowpack. The two years before that were also La Niña winters, where the state topped out at 12.1 and 12 inches of snow water equivalent, respectively — about 4 inches below the median statewide peak.
The center’s early season projections list most of Utah as having slightly greater odds for below-normal precipitation this winter, while northern Utah is listed as having “equal chances.” This means there’s no clear signal whether wetter, drier, or near-normal conditions will emerge between Dec. 1 of this year and Feb. 28, 2025.
It isn’t the agency’s final winter projection, though, which is typically expected by mid-November.
ST. GEORGE, Utah (KUTV) — One person was hospitalized at the St. George Regional Hospital after a car rolled and caught fire just south of the Utah-Arizona border.
The Beaver Dam and Littlefield Fire Department in Arizona said its crews responded to the crash near the Black Rock Road exit – roughly two miles south of the state border – on Sunday night.
Upon arrival, crews put out the car fire and found the driver had left the scene. A single occupant, who was able to get out of the car on their own, was transported to the hospital by a Beaver Dam ambulance.
MORE | Crashes
Their condition has not been publicly released.
Details on what led to the crash and the condition of the driver were not immediately available.
The Beaver Dam and Littlefield Fire Department said law enforcement investigated the scene.
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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz missed out on the NBA Playoffs, but still scored a big win thanks to a coin flip.
In Monday’s tiebreaker coin flip to determine who had the fourth-worst record in the league last season, the Jazz came out winners over the Sacramento Kings, who had the same 22-60 record.
Had the Jazz lost the coin flip, they would have been fifth in NBA Draft Lottery odds. Only the worst four teams are guaranteed to remain within the top eight of the lottery.
If Utah had fallen to fifth, there would have been the chance they could have dropped out of the top 8 teams in the lottery, and owed the draft pick to Oklahoma City, which was top-8 protected in a previous trade.
The Jazz now have an 11.5 percent chance to win the first overall pick in the NBA Draft Lottery, which is scheduled for Sunday, May 10.
The Utah Jazz are rolling into a big offseason before they into what’s projected to be a wildly different-looking 2026-27 campaign from what they had just seen this past 22-win season.
But before that season is able to get underway, the Jazz have some priorities to address in the offseason––both in terms of constructing their roster and retaining a few key pieces from last year’s group into next year.
That makes their salary cap situation and everything around it important to be aware of in the next few months. So with that in mind, we’ve put together an offseason cap tracker for a glimpse of what the Jazz are dealing with in terms of cap space, contracts, and any of their own free agents hitting the open market.
Let’s break it down:
Maximum Possible Cap Space: $24.7M
The Jazz are currently projected at just under $25 million in cap headed into the summer. That’s without any additional moves made to the roster from how they’re entering the offseason, and without factoring in any free agents’ pending cap holds.
That number is bound to get smaller once the Jazz hash out their contract situation for Walker Kessler, but it could also see an uptick if Utah were to shed salary with some of their non-guaranteed deals, or any other player they wanted to pivot from.
As of now, it allows the Jazz to make a couple of moves around the edges in free agency, but the main focus will lean on signing Kessler to a long-term deal.
Contracts
A glimpse of the Jazz’s contract values for the 2026-27 season, and when they’re slated to hit free agency from their current deals:
– Jaren Jackson Jr.: $49.0M, ’29 PO
– Lauri Markkanen: $46.1M, ’29 UFA
– Ace Bailey: $9.5M, ’29 RFA
– Keyonte George: $6.5M, ’27 RFA
– John Konchar: $6.1M, ’27 UFA
– Cody Williams: $6.0M, ’28 RFA
– Brice Sensabaugh, $4.8M, ’27 RFA
– Svi Mykhailiuk: $3.8M*, ’28 UFA
– Kyle Filipowski: $3.0M, ’28 RFA
– Isaiah Collier: $2.7M, ’28 RFA
– Hayden Gray: $2.1M*, ’27 RFA
– Bez Mbeng: $2.1M*, ’27 RFA
– Blake Hinson (two-way), ’27 RFA
Total: $142.1M
*- non-guaranteed
The biggest chunk of the Jazz’s salary leans on their top two veterans, Markkanen and Jackson Jr., each making a combined $95 million next season alone.
However, the rest of the roster isn’t taking up much money. No one else will be making more than $10 million, and their payroll is a little less than $150 million in total.
Another noteworthy fact: the Jazz’s key roster pieces outside of George and Sensabaugh are all under contract through the next two seasons.
Both of the aforementioned names are also bound to see extension discussions take place this summer, which might lock in their future for even longer.
Free Agents
A look at who from this season’s roster is set to hit the free agent market in July:
– Kevin Love (UFA)
– Jusuf Nurkic (UFA)
– Walker Kessler (RFA)
– Oscar Tshiebwe (two-way)
– Elijah Harkless (two-way)
The biggest name of note is, of course, the Jazz’s restricted free agent big man, Walker Kessler, who Utah is bound to hand a big payday, but it remains to be seen how much that contract––or offer sheet from another team––will be.
Jusuf Nurkic and Kevin Love have also expressed their desire to return to the roster as they hit free agency. Re-signing both likely wouldn’t cost much for the Jazz financially, but instead relies on a question of whether the roster space is readily available to keep both.
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