This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
Winter returned to Utah on Thursday, announcing its arrival with rain and snow, as well as cold temperatures and winds gusts getting close to 70 mph along the Wasatch Front.
By 7 p.m., more than a half-inch of snow had fallen at the Bountiful Bench. The National Weather Service said snow was falling at Logan Summit and warned travelers that they will encounter slush- to snow-covered roads in the northern Utah mountains.
Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons were restricted on Thursday night to vehicles with chains or 4 wheel drive.
Rain was changing over to snow in Salt Lake City on Thursday evening and some road slush was possible, according to the weather service.
A winter weather advisory for the Wasatch Mountain valley — including the cities of Huntsville, Park City and Heber City — was to be in effect until 4 a.m. Friday. Snow accumulations of 2 to 4 inches were expected.
Significant snowfall was expected along the Interstate 15 corridor of west central and southwest Utah and across all mountain areas in the western two-thirds of the state.
A high wind warning in the west central and southwest parts of the state was canceled and a wind advisory in the Salt Lake and Tooele valleys expired by early evening Thursday. The weather service also canceled a wind advisory in the southern Wasatch Front and the Sanpete and Sevier valleys a short time later.
On Friday, snow will continue across portions of central and southern Utah, the weather service predicted. Substantial accumulations of new snow are possible, especially over the mountains south of Interstate 70 in central Utah.
Daytime high temperatures in along the Wasatch Front are expected to dip into the mid-30s to about 40 on Friday.
Southern Utahns looked for milder weather, comparatively, but still could expect daytime highs to slide into the upper-40s on Friday, a 20-degree retreat from Thursday. Rain also was in the forecast for Utah's Dixie beginning early Friday morning,
All that atmospheric stirring and precipitation translated to "green," or healthy air quality grades statewide through the weekend, according to the Utah Division of Air Quality.
The Utah Avalanche Center listed the risk of backcountry mountain snowslides at "moderate" as of Thursday for the mountains above Logan. Other mountain districts remained at "low," but that could quickly change as snow accumulates.
For more extensive forecast information, visit the Tribune's weather page at http://www.sltrib.com.
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