This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A late-weekend storm brought some relief to urban Utah's pollution plagued valleys, but inversions were to strengthen and a spell of unhealthy air quality was to return beginning Tuesday.
The Utah Division of Air Quality listed Salt Lake, Davis, Weber and Box Elder counties as "yellow," or moderately polluted on Monday. However, come Tuesday, those regions were to return to "orange," or unhealthy status. The remainder of the state — Washington and Carbon counties excepted, with "green" or healthy air — will be "yellow."
Unhealthy levels of particulates in the air prompted DAQ to ban open burning and use of solid fuel furnaces and stoves, and to urge more use of mass transit by commuters. Health officials advised the elderly, very young and those with lung and heart ailments to avoid prolonged outdoor activity.
The dirty air will rule through Wednesday, but forecasters expect a fresh storm system on Thursday to help scrub the atmosphere of pollutants.
The Salt Lake and Tooele valleys looked for sunny skies and highs around 50 degrees on Tuesday, up a couple degrees from a drizzly Monday. Lows were forecast to be in the upper-20s.
Southern Utahns, meanwhile, thumbed their noses at both precipitation and pollution. Utah's Dixie expected mostly clear, sunny skies on Tuesday, with highs in the low-70s, up a few degrees from Monday's forecast. Overnight lows were to be in the upper-30s.
The Utah Avalanche Center rated the risk for potentially deadly backcountry snowslides at "considerable" for the Logan, Ogden, Salt Lake and Provo regions, while the remainder of the state's mountain slopes were considered to be "moderate" for avalanche danger.
For more extensive forecast information, visit The Salt Lake Tribune's weather page at: http//www.sltrib.com/weather.
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