This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated.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.

Near freezing dawns, springlike afternoons, and all with a leafy carpet of gold, orange and crimson; there's your mid-autumn, week-ending Wasatch Front forecast.

Thursday's thermometers dipped into mid-30s in northern Utah's valleys just before sunrise, and readings were even lower in the mountains — Alta recorded 23 degrees overnight, while Wanship and Randolph came in with shivering marks of 25 and 26.

Indeed, several pockets of the state — Utah County, the western Uintas, Green River, Moab and Bluff — began Thursday under Hard Freeze warnings or watches.

By Thursday afternoon, however, the forecast called for highs near 60, and on Friday the Salt Lake and Tooele valleys expected to see temperatures flirting with 70 degrees. Saturday could see the mercury top 70.

Change is the soul of life. Poet philosopher George Santayana had it right when he wrote: "To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring."

Southern Utahns began with highs in the upper-70s Thursday, building toward the low-80s Friday and mid-80s on Saturday. Overnight lows during the period will range from the upper-40s to the mid-50s.

Once again, the Utah Division of Air Quality hoisted a sea of "green," or healthy air quality banners statewide for the next few days.

The Intermountain Allergy & Asthma website reported that only mold — at "high" — was a concern on its pollen index as of Thursday.

For more extensive forecast information, visit The Salt Lake Tribune's weather page at: http//www.sltrib.com/weather/.

Twitter: @remims