This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
Northern Utah was on the cusp of calmer, drier and warmer weekend weather, but first it has to endure a blustery Thursday punctuated by rain, thunder and lightning.
That occasionally wild, wet cycle for the Wasatch Front will extend into late Thursday evening, but skies were expected to beginning clearing after midnight. Friday's forecast called for partly cloudy horizons giving way to clear and sunny by late morning, with high temperatures in the mid-70s — up about 5 degrees from Thursday.
Thursday's precipitation set a record for consecutive days of measurable rain in Salt Lake City. According to the National Weather Service, that record — 17 days, set in 1995 — was tied on Wednesday, when 0.42 inches of rainfall was measured at Salt Lake City International Airport, and then broken on Thursday with 18 days of measurable rain.
Roughly half an inch of rain meant localized flooding in Sanpete County, particularly the Gunnison Valley. By Thursday morning, the sheriff's office in the southcentral Utah reported up to 100 homes had sustained some mostly minor flooding damage.
The homes, sustaining various levels of basement flooding, were split between the towns of Centerfield and Gunnison. Also reporting flooding damage, both structurally and to its inventory, was the Gunnison Market.
Meanwhile, thunderstorms that rolled through northern Utah Thursday morning resulted in a lightning strike to the roof of a home in Syracuse. The bolt sparked a fire that was quickly doused. No injuries were reported.
On Thursday afternoon, a funnel cloud was spotted over Elwood, near Tremonton in Box Elder County — part of a strong thunderstorm that moved through the area.
Summer-like weather had already arrived in southern Utah Thursday, with highs near 90 degrees under partly cloudy skies. Friday's forecast called for clear blue above Utah's Dixie, with highs in the mid-90s.
The Utah Division of Air Quality rated all monitoring stations as "green," or healthy, through Saturday.
The Intermountain Allergy & Asthma website reported only grass and mold at "high" levels on its pollen index as of Thursday; all other allergens were "low."
For more detailed forecast breakdowns, visit the Tribune's weather page at http://www.sltrib.com/weather/.
Twitter: @remims