The Wasatch Front is a major metropolitan region in the north-central part of the U.S. state of

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. It consists of a chain of contiguous cities and towns stretched along the

Wasatch Range The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the Gr ...

from Santaquin in the south to Pleasant View in the north, and containing the cities of

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

, Provo, Orem, Bountiful, Layton, and Ogden.

Geography

The Wasatch Front is long and narrow. To the east, the Wasatch Mountains rise abruptly several thousand feet above the valley floors, climbing to their highest elevation of at Mount Nebo (bordering southern Utah Valley). The area's western boundary is formed by Utah Lake in Utah County, the Oquirrh Mountains in Salt Lake County, and the Great Salt Lake in northwestern Salt Lake, Davis, Weber, and southeastern Box Elder county. Though most residents of the area live between Ogden and Provo (a distance of ), which includes Salt Lake City proper, the fullest built-out extent of the Wasatch Front is long and on average wide. Along its length, the Wasatch Front never exceeds a width of approximately because of the natural barriers of lakes and mountains. Sustained

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

in Utah has more recently strained the region's water security, causing the Great Salt Lake to drop to record low levels, and affecting the state's economy, of which the Wasatch Front constitutes 80%.

Climate

The Wasatch Front is a semi-arid region at the eastern edge of the Great Basin. The urban corridor mainly lies in zone 7 with minimum average winter temperatures ranging between and daytime high temperatures ranging from the mid-30 °F to mid-40 °F range (-1 and 4 °C). Snowfall is common during winter but often melts rapidly. Inversions commonly occur along the Wasatch Front during mid-winter making for very cold temperatures and gloomy conditions lasting for several weeks at times in the valleys, while the higher mountain elevations will experience clear and warmer conditions. Localized

lake-effect snow Lake-effect snow is produced during cooler atmospheric conditions when a cold air mass moves across long expanses of warmer lake water. The lower layer of air, heated by the lake water, picks up water vapor from the lake and rises through colde ...

fall from the Great Salt Lake is common in the late Fall and early winter. The first freeze usually occurs in early October in the outlying areas but can occur as late as early November in the inner urban areas. The last freeze can occur broadly between early April and late May. Summers are generally hot and dry, with the exception of the summer thunderstorm seasonal pattern which usually runs from early July through early September, when often intense thunderstorms occur due to mid-latitude weather patterns including the Pacific storm track. Daytime high temperatures are around , with higher temperatures often created by the

urban heat island Urban areas usually experience the urban heat island (UHI) effect; that is, they are significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas. The temperature difference is usually larger at night than during the day, and is most apparent when winds ar ...

effect.

Population centers

Several

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

and commercial districts encompass the Wasatch Front, including the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, the Provo–Orem metropolitan area (south of Salt Lake), and the Ogden-Clearfield metropolitan area (north of Salt Lake). Nearly all of the cities within the region are connected by continuous

suburban A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

development.

Transportation

Ogden has served as a major railway hub through much of its history. The First transcontinental railroad was constructed between 1863 and 1869, with the tracks reaching Ogden on March 27, 1869. Trains heading east from Ogden must negotiate the highest reaches of eastern Utah, travelling through Weber and Echo Canyons and over the Wasatch Pass at an elevation of 6,792 feet. Union Pacific has operated the world's most powerful locomotives to haul freight over the Wasatch Mountains between Cheyenne and Ogden, including

American Locomotive Company The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer that operated from 1901 to 1969, initially specializing in the production of locomotives but later diversifying and fabricating at various time ...

's famous "Big Boys", the world's largest steam locomotive; GE's Gas Turbines known as the "Big Blows" (because of their distinctive sound), the world's most powerful internal combustion locomotive; and GM's "Big Jacks", the most powerful single-unit diesel locomotive type ever built. Transportation issues within the metropolitan area have been complicated by the narrow north–south orientation of the valley, constrained by the natural barriers on both sides, and the rapid growth of the region. The primary modes of transport for the area are Interstate 15 (I‑15) and U.S. Route 89 (US‑89), both of which run down its center from north to south for the full length of about . Other interstates and highways provide transportation routes to local areas within the Wasatch Front. Such transportation routes include Interstate 84 in the Ogden area; the Legacy Parkway ( State Route 67) running north–south through western Davis County; Interstate 80 running east–west through Salt Lake City; Interstate 215 (I‑215) circling the inner Salt Lake Valley; the Mountain View Corridor ( State Route 85), Bangerter Highway ( State Route 154), and State Route 201 to the west of Salt Lake City; U.S. Route 189 through Provo, and U.S. Route 6 in southern Utah County. The Utah Transit Authority provides bus and

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

(TRAX) service to most of the urban areas within the Wasatch Front. Additionally, a double-decker

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

line '' FrontRunner'', running from North Ogden to Provo, is in full operation. The ''

California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago, Illinois, Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville station, Emeryville), via Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha, Denver, Sa ...

'' of

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

is the primary rail transport leading in and out of the Wasatch Front, having a station in

and Provo. Salt Lake City International Airport serves as the primary airport for the region. Ogden-Hinckley Airport and Provo Municipal Airport also provide scheduled commercial air service.

Growth and land use

Because of the geographical barriers to the east and west, much of the land along the Wasatch Front has been developed. The region has experienced considerable growth since the 1950s, with its population increasing 308% from 492,374 to 2,051,330. Much of the remaining undeveloped land is rapidly being developed, and local governments have grappled with problems of

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...

and other land-use concerns. The region on the other side of the

, including cities such as Park City, Morgan, Heber City, and Midway, is sometimes referred to as the Wasatch Back and has recently shared in the rapid growth of the region.

References

External links

* Utah Office of Tourism {{Coord, 40.6, N, 111.9, W, format=dec, display=title, type:adm1st_scale:2000000_region:US-UT Metropolitan areas of Utah Regions of Utah Wasatch Range Geography of Box Elder County, Utah Geography of Davis County, Utah Geography of Juab County, Utah Geography of Salt Lake County, Utah Geography of Utah County, Utah Geography of Weber County, Utah