This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Ah, springtime in the Rockies. Record-breaking heat one day, torrents of valley rain and flurries of mountain snow the next.
Thursday dawned with sheets of water shrouding the Wasatch Front, flooding low-lying urban intersections and turning the morning commute on the region's freeways and highways into vehicular hydroplaning adventures.
The heavy precipitation was suspected in numerous power outages, most of them 100 customers or less in size, though more than 6,000 Provo City Power clients were left in the dark by an outage that hit about 5:30 a.m.
From the Utah-Idaho border all the way to southwestern Utah's Washington County, a Winter Weather Advisory was in place until 11 a.m. Thursday for the Wasatch, central Utah and Uintas, as well as the peaks near Monticello in southeastern Utah.
Mountains above 8,000 feet in elevation expected up to a foot of snow, with 2-6 inches forecast for elevations between 6,500 to 8,000 feet.
Friday's forecast called for sunny, clear skies with highs around 60 in the Salt Lake and Tooele valleys, 7-10 degrees warmer than Thursday. However, a fresh storm system — and more rain — is expected on Saturday, once more plunging daytime highs into the low- to mid-50s.
Southern Utahns did not escape the precipitation Thursday, and also will have showers on Saturday after a dry, sunny Friday. Highs on Friday will be in the low-70s, a 10-degree up-tick from Thursday; Saturday, with storm clouds returning, will see highs slip into the low- to mid-60s.
The Utah Division of Air Quality, ever the fan of stormy weather and its pollution-scouring qualities, awarded "green," or healthy air quality grades statewide through the end of the work week.
But if you thought all that rain would ease your springtime allergies, think again — and keep the tissues handy: the Intermountain Allergy & Asthma website began Thursday by rating cottonwood, ash, cedar, sycamore and oak pollens as "very high" levels, maple as "high," and willow, elm, mulberry and birch as "moderate."
For more extensive forecast information visit the Tribune's weather page at http://www.sltrib.com/news/weather/.
Twitter: @remims