This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Hot and windy one day, nearly 30 degrees cooler and soggy the next. Welcome to spring, northern Utah style.

From the state's northern valleys to the deserts to the south, mid-April flexed its atmospheric larynx to wail its Song of the Wind (though not as well as Carlos Santana's guitar).

A Wind Advisory was in place for the Salt Lake and Tooele valleys from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, with gusts of up to 50 mph expected.

Still, the forecast pegged temperatures along the Wasatch Front at highs around 80 degrees. By late Thursday night, however, rain showers will usher in a wetter, much cooler Friday. Precipitation tapers off early Friday morning, but highs will struggle to reach the mid-50s — the same daytime temperatures as expected on Saturday.

From noon through 10 p.m. Thursday another Wind Advisory was issued for southwestern Utah, with gusts reaching 45 mph. Highs were to reach the mid-70s on Friday, 5-7 degrees lower than forecast Thursday. A sunnier, calmer Saturday will see highs around 80 in Utah's Dixie.

Meanwhile, the sparsely populated west-central and southwestern desert was under a High Wind Warning. Winds of 30-40 mph and gusts of 60 mph were expected between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. Thursday, the National Weather Service reported.

The Utah Division of Air Quality rated Salt Lake, Utah, Washington, Carbon, Duchesne and Uintah counties as "yellow," or moderate for particulate pollution on Thursday, but predicted all of those districts — except Washington and Carbon — will freshen to "green," or healthy levels on Friday.

The Intermountain Allergy & Asthma website rated cottonwood pollen levels as "high" as of Thursday, with birch at "moderate." Other allergens were "low," or did not register on the site's index.

For more extensive forecast information visit the Tribune's weather page at http://www.sltrib.com/news/weather/.

Twitter: @remims