This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
After nearly a week of icy rain and bountiful snow, northern Utah is bracing for a spell of . . . merciful warmth.
See, Janice Joplin was right. Always, "remember in the winter, far beneath the winter snow, lies the seed that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes the rose."
The National Weather Service, albeit with less excruciating soul, seconds the sentiment in predicting a warming trend beginning Thursday.
High temperatures will rise 15-25 degrees over the next four days: Salt Lake City, in the upper-30s over the past several days, will reach the 60s by Sunday; Logan and Cedar City, shivering around freezing during the daylight hours, will warm to the upper 50s; and in Utah Dixie, St. George looked for Thursday highs in the 70s, up nearly 20 degrees from earlier this week.
The Salt Lake and Tooele valleys will enjoy mostly sunny skies through the coming weekend. Highs on Friday were to range into the low-50s before hitting the mid-50s Saturday and then 60 degrees on Sunday. Similar patterns were forecast for the rest of the Wasatch Front.
Risks for potentially deadly snowslides in the mountain backcountry areas of the state remained elevated after the past several days of heavy snowfall. The Utah Avalanche Center rated the mountains above Provo and Moab at "considerable" risk, while the remainder of the state's slopes were "moderate."
The Utah Division of Air Quality graded all monitoring stations "green," or healthy for breathing conditions through the weekend.
For more extensive forecast breakdowns visit the Tribune weather page at http://www.sltrib.com/weather/.
Twitter: @remims