The Current Weather Forecast for the Great Salt Lake has a new and changed look.  I have tried to make it easier to find what you want and simpler to read with consistent forecasting symbols.

 

The top section of the Weather Forecast includes active WARNINGS.  This includes Wind: (No Warning, Small Craft Advisory, Gale Force Warning, Storm Warning, Hurricane Force Warning) / Sea: (Heavy Chop, Moderate Seas, Heavy Seas) / Storm: (Lighting) / Temps: (Hypothermia warnings - Low, Moderate, Severe, Extreme) / Other: Blustery Winds,  Tooele Twisters.

 

The Forecast Section is the current daily forecasting.

 

The Wind And Sea section includes (hopefully) easier to understand wind and sea symbols along with predicted strengths.  On the Todays Weather Forecast page you can click on the links Understanding WIND FORECAST Symbols or Understanding WAVE FORECAST Symbols for detailed information on the Wind And Sea forecasting symbols.

 

We try to have the forecasts up by 10am every morning.  But on occasions we have not been able to meet this deadline for various reasons.

 

The forecast is the best attempt by the harbormaster to predict Great Salt Lake weather based on observed conditions and forecasting models.  But the harbormasters forecast is still just his best guess and conditions may vary greatly.

 

We have scheduled April 1st to turn the water back on to the docks and to get the service dock (Pump A Head) back up and running.  If we can get reliable warmer weather before that, we will turn the water on prior to that date.

 

 

 

The snowpack and direct precipitation is worse than horrible!  Yet the lake is coming up at an above normal rate.  This is probably the direct result of good ground saturation and reservoir level.  I was just at Utah Lake the other day and it is so full, if it comes up much more it may begin to flood.  That water has to come this way.

 

If I was to give an early prediction I would guess that the lake will come up about 1.5 feet and drop about 2 feet leaving us with a net loss of .5 feet.  This would put the lake at about 4193.7 this fall.  The worst level we've seen since the 1962.  But not enough to put the marina out of business.

 

There is still hope.  March and April may still deliver giving us a fairly normal runoff.

 

The Harbormaster's Official Lake Level Prediction will be out March 31st

 

Each winter, between January and February, we see some of our strongest winds.  In fact almost all of our most infamous wind gusts have occured those two months producing winds over 100mph each year.  This includes the 214mph gust that devastated parts of the marina.

 

But this winter?  Nada!  We had two days in December where we saw gusts near 70.  I think our top winds for the last few months have only been around 30mph.  And we have had one of the longest stretches of very light wind I can remember for winter months.

 

And of course the storms keep going around the GSL snowpack area.  It's not for a lack of storms coming off the Pacific.  It's just that they are not coming through our drainage area.  One must think our luck will change soon.

 

I have not been happy how I have been doing the photos on this site.  It is very time consuming to download and space is limited.  But we now have a new link on the main menu of this web site for photos.  Check it out.

 

 

Parks will not be raising the slip rates this year.  That means we will stay with last years slip rent schedule.  That schedule can be viewed by clicking on The Marina tab of this main menu.

 

Remember that March is the last month for winter rates.  April begins Summer rates.  Please adjust your payments accordingly

 

We are seeing a rash of dock lines breaking again.  On our most recent dock inventory we saw several lines that are chafed and ready to fail.  Now that spring is on its way and we are more likely to see an active storm pattern I would recommend coming out and visiting your boat.  Bring some new dock lines when you do.

 

Starting January 1st, 2010, if you rent a slip from the Great Salt Lake State Marina, you WILL be required to have liability insurance.  A notice will be sent out in your Slip Renewal Package explaining the need to provide proof of this insurance.

 

As most of you know.  Our maintenance specialist, Larry Modena, died last summer.  Due to budget cuts Parks will probably not be replacing him.  It is more likely they will reclassify the job assignments for the remaining employees.  This will definitely increase our workloads.

 

We have been trying to keep up on maintenance issues and we are also working on several park improvement issues.

 

But if we have missed something that you feel needs our attention, please feel free to come in and talk to us about it.  Or email me at harbormaster@gslmarina.com

 

Some of the projects we are working on or are trying to budget for are:

* New partitions for the restrooms

* Slurry sealing the parking lot (it has cracked horribly this last year)

* Dredging the mouth of the marina this fall (don't get excited.  We are working on bids and begging for money.  If we luck out, we will plan this project for August)

* Picnic tables for the beach and patio

* Roof repairs

 

Well, it appears we have finally solved the electrical problems on K dock.  It was caused by loose lugs on the transformer.  All transformers have now been checked.

 

But this problem highlights a common issue at Great Salt Lake Marina.  Because of the high summer temperatures and very cold winter temperatures, screws become loose.  This includes your own boats.  A common cause of boat fires is for the screws at the electrical receptacle for the power plug become loose and then arcing is a result.

 

Check your power cords where they plug into the pedestal and into your boat.  Feel for heat.  If it is hot you probably have a screw or two that has backed out.  This can be a dangerous situation.  I hightly recommend you pull your receptacles and make sure the screws are tight.

 

I want to thank Jack Gray, Suzan Chaffin and all those that donated trees to the marina.  It was a great success.  But we have had to end the program.  We just do not have any more room for trees where we can easily get water to them.  And running a watering system to new locations will be nearly impossible considering the marina was built with Kennecott slag.

 

So, again, thank you to all that purchased trees and helped plant them.  All of us that will enjoy the summer shade greatly appreciate it.

 

Daylight Savings Time starts our new hours.  Beginning March 21st we will close the park at sunset rather than 5pm.  For those of you with boats you will not be affected.  If you have the key or the gate code you will still be able to get in after hours.

 

Because of the loss of one employee and the remaining employees being stretched thinner,  we will not be able to always man to marina office.  We will endeavor to always have park coverage. And we will try to keep the office manned during the weekends.  And we will do our best during the weekdays.  But bear with us during these lean times.

 

Our plan is to at least have the office manned from 9am to 11am each day and from 9am to 4pm on weekends.  But we are being pulled to other locations to meet our obligations.

 

The Great Salt Lake State Marina is resuming our field trip tours of a few years ago.  Our first trip is to Antelope Island this April 10th.

 

Join us for a trip to the island.  We will leave from the GSL Marina around 9:30am for a car pool trip to Antelope Island.  There you will have an opportunity to visit the visitor center, drive the island to watch the wild life (Bison, Eagles, Coyote's, Antelope, Deer, etc) and then down to the historic Fielding-Garr ranch house for a guided (or self guided) tour and a picnic hosted by Great Salt Lake State Marina.

 

Pleae rsvp with the harbormaster at harbormaster@gslmarina.com so that we can plan on enough main course food.  BYOB and possibly a side dish.

 

Vehicle fees for the park and causeway will apply.  But participation in the field trip is free.

 

 

 

 

Harbor Master