This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated.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.

Northern Utahns got a mild, sunny break Friday, the day after record-setting rainstorms could have had some furtively looking for animals, birds and reptiles pairing up.

But while Friday's forecast for highs in the low-60s throughout the Wasatch Front seemed to underscore the "no" in the story of Noah, Saturday was to see water-laden clouds return, bringing showers to the Salt Lake and Tooele valleys once more.

Still, this weekend's wetness was not expected to rival that of Thursday, when Salt Lake City, measuring 1.97 inches of rain, drowned the date's old precipitation record of 0.96, set in 1916. Record rainfall also was reported in Tooele (2.49 inches, more than doubling the 1929 mark of 1.35); Randolph (1.07, bettering 2005's record of 0.31); Ferron (0.32, compared to 0.27 in 1954); and Laketown (0.86, supplanting 1962's 0.57 inches).

Southern Utahns also dodged the rain on Friday, with sunny skies and highs in the upper-60s to low-70s, but Saturday's forecast calls for a 10-degree daytime temperature drop as rain clouds once again hovered over the redrocks and high deserts of Utah's Dixie.

Both north and south, those valley rain showers will turn to snow flurries in the mountains, according to the National Weather Service.

Of course, storm activity is worshiped by the folks over at the Utah Division of Air Quality, where "green," or healthy grades were universal for all monitoring stations heading into the weekend.

However, those with springtime allergies will skip the celebration, with the Intermountain Allergy & Asthma website warning Friday of a veritable pollen tsunami: oak, willow, ash, cottonwood and sycamore all are "very high" on the pollen index. Cedar pollen comes in at "high," and maple "moderate."

For more extensive forecast information visit the Tribune's weather page at http://www.sltrib.com/news/weather/.

remims@sltrib.com

Twitter: @remims