This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Thousands of Utahns will flock to forest and high-desert getaways this holiday weekend, warily watching the skies for storm clouds threatening to blot away sunny skies with thunder, lightning and sudden, heavy showers.
As personifications of nature go, Ma Nature may be awash with patriotism, or she's just grumbling about election year choices. Then again, as forecasters insist, it all could just be the mindless meanderings of a "well-primed air mass" generating a "deep convection with heavy rain likely."
Take your pick, but believe this: As the Beehive State builds up to nation's 240th Independence Day, it will do so with daytime highs in the low- to mid-90s along the Wasatch Front — and mid- to upper-90s in southern Utah — punctuated by afternoon and evening thunderstorms and rain.
That cycle of wet, electricity-packed storm surges already were evident on Friday. The National Weather Service issued a Flash Flood Watch for the southwest quarter of the state, extending into southwestern Utah, beginning at noon and stretching well into the evening hours.
Potential for localized cloud bursts meant slot canyons, slopes denuded by wildfires, normally dry washes and creek beds, and urban areas with poor drainage alike were at risk for fast-developing, dangerous flooding. On a holiday weekend that typically lures hordes of Utahns' outdoors, caution especially was urged in southern and eastern Utah's state and national parks.
For the Salt Lake and Tooele valleys, the sun-clouds-lighting-and-rain refrain will define the weekend's weather. By Sunday night, however, the skies will clear ahead of a Fourth of July Monday promising sunshine and highs in the mid-90s.
Southern Utahns expected the same cycles of natural pyrotechnics and scattered showers, along with evening breezes of 10-20 mph to somewhat alleviate near humid, triple-digit temperatures. Come Monday, though, clear, sunny skies usher in hot, dry conditions again, with the mercury soaring to 102 or higher.
The Utah Division of Air Quality predicts that the populous Salt Lake, Davis, Utah and Weber counties will be at "yellow," or compromised for air quality through the weekend. Get out of the metro valleys, though, and the rest of the state's monitoring stations will be "green," or healthy for breathing.
The Intermountain Allergy & Asthma website reported that only mold and grass registered as "high" on its pollen index as of Friday.
For more extensive forecast information, visit The Salt Lake Tribune's weather page at: http//www.sltrib.com/weather/.
Twitter: @remims