This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
The lead-up to Northern Utah's first autumn weekend was a record-breaker — for summer like temperatures.
If John Clare, the 18th century British poet, made an apparitional Wasatch Front appearance, he might remark that the "Hill tops like hot iron glitter bright in the sun . . . burning hot is the ground, liquid gold is the air."
Then again, Clare spent the last 20 years of his life in the loony bin; so there's that.
Not an illusion, however, was the National Weather Service's declaration Friday afternoon that Salt Lake City had broken a record set in 2001 by reaching 93 degrees.
It is also the latest in the season that 93-plus degrees has ever been recorded, the weather service reported.
Northern Utahns will have 10-20 mph breezes along with the unseasonable warmth under mostly clear skies.
The mercury also will flirt, but not likely top high temperature records in southern Utah. The forecast for Saturday calls mostly sunny skies and highs in the mid-90s, shy of the 100-degree mark for Sept. 26 in St. George, for example. (Friday's forecast called for 101, 2 degrees short of the city's 1947 record of 103 degrees).
The Utah Division of Air Quality had some good news for the weekend. After compromised air quality along the Wasatch Front earlier in the week, all areas of the state were expected to be "green," or healthy, through the weekend.
The Intermountain Allergy and Asthma website listed sagebrush as "very high," ragweed as "high," and mold as "moderate" on its pollen index as of Friday.
For more extensive weather forecasts, visit the Tribune's weather page at http://www.sltrib.com/weather/.
Twitter: @remims