This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

As Wednesday dawned, rain was filling up Mexican Hat, soaking the native deities in the Valley of the Gods, and floating the namesake rodent of Beaver.

It wasn't even subterfuge to note a squall or two in Bluff as a volatile tropical storm system moved into Utah, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a Flash Flood Watch for a pie slice-shaped cunch of central southern and eastern Utah.

From eastern Utah County west to the Colorado border and south through Manti, Price, Cedar City, St. George and Zion National Park and southeast to Monticello, Blanding and the aforementioned Bluff, the advisory extended through Wednesday evening.

Forecasters warned of the potential for sudden, potentially deadly flooding of slot canyons and otherwise dry creek beds, as well as mudslides along forest land slopes previously denuded by wildfires. Mountain roads in the watch area were expected to be slippery, if not impassable in some high-elevation areas.

The northern half of the state was not exempt from the thunderstorms and rain showers moving into Utah, either. After Wednesday's daytime mid-80s under increasingly cloudy skies, Wednesday night's forecast was for rain and the crack and roll of lightning and thunder. Showers were to continue Thursday, with periodic breaks in the clouds and high temperatures in the mid- to upper-70s.

The Utah Division of Air Quality listed all monitoring stations — with the "green," healthy exceptions of Cache, Tooele and Duchesne counties — as "yellow,"or compromised for air quality through the end of this week.

The Intermountain Allergy & Asthma website reported grass as "very high," and mold and oak as "moderate" for pollen levels as of Wednesday.

For more detailed forecast breakdowns, visit the Tribune's weather page at http://www.sltrib.com/weather/.

Twitter: @remims