This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
Carl Sandburg once wrote that "fog comes on little cat feet . . . sits on silent haunches and then moves on." Thank God for that, denizens of the Wasatch Front can finally say.
If the 19th century poet visited northern Utah Monday morning, his free verse classic might feature a asthmatic, dirty brown alley cat that was anything but silent; its wheezing and hacking echoing amid inversion-trapped fog and smog.
At least, according to the National Weather Service, the state's urban valleys — and residents' lungs — are about to get a break: a storm system will settle over the state overnight, bringing rain, and in the mountains snow, to scrub the region's air.
A Dense Fog Advisory was in place for the northern quarter of the state and east central Utah through 11 a.m. Monday, when persistent daytime rain and higher elevation snowfall was to sweep it and the inversions away.
Forecasters instead put much of the state — essentially the mountainous spin stretching from Logan south through Ogden, Salt Lake City and Provo to Nephi, then branching southwest through Cedar City and southeast to Monticello — under a Winter Weather Advisory through 11 a.m. Tuesday.
Up to 8-16 inches of mountain snowfall was predicted for the northern Wasatch and western Uintas, while the central and southern mountains looked for 5-10 inches. Valley snow accumulations were to range from 1-3 inches in Salt Lake and Tooele counties, and 2-5 inches at lower elevations elsewhere in the state.
By late Monday morning, heavy snowfall was reported in the mountains east of Salt Lake City. The Utah Department of Transportation issued alerts requiring four-wheel drive or tire chains for both Big and Little Cottonwood canyons.
Temperatures Tuesday along the Wasatch Front were expected to be in the upper-30s and low-40s, about the same as Monday's forecast, with overnight lows in the upper-20s.
Southern Utahns also expected rain as the work week began, with high temperatures predicted in the mid-50s on Tuesday — same as Monday's forecast. Overnight lows were pegged in the mid- to upper-30s.
On Monday, the Utah Division of Air Quality initially rated most of the state as "moderate," urging caution with outdoor activity by the elderly, young children and those with respiratory ailments, as well as restrictions on open burning, use of wood- and coal-burning stoves and private vehicle use. However, with the coming storm activity, air quality should improve markedly heading into the midweek.
The Utah Avalanche Center as of Monday morning rated the risk for potentially deadly mountain backcountry snowslides at "moderate" for all the state's mountain ranges with the exception of the Skyline and Moab districts, which were "low."
More extensive forecast information is available at the Tribune's weather page: http://www.sltrib.com/weather.
Twitter: @remims