This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated.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

Forget the old saw, Utah. March weather's leonine exit held true, but April is not arriving anything like a lamb — unless it's a weresheep.

Talk about the violence of the lambs, or at least its meteorological match: a Winter Storm Warning is in effect through 6 a.m. Saturday for the Wasatch Plateau stretching into the Uintas all the way to the Wyoming border, as well as the southcentral Mountains from Manti south through Cedar City and Bryce Canyon.

The National Weather Service warns of up to 5 inches of snow along sections of Interstate 15, with the white stuff falling at elevations of 5,000 feet and higher, while a rain-snow mix ruled the region's valleys.

This is no April Fools' Day forecast, either: there's more wild and woolly storm activity expected in central and eastern Utah, where a Winter Weather Advisory is in place for the Roan and Tavaputs plateaus. That advisory expires at 9 a.m. Saturday, but not before 5-10 inches of wind-driven snowfalls at 6,500 feet and above.

The same advisory applies to a pocket of southeastern Utah, including the Uncompahgre Plateau and the La Sal and Abajo mountains; 4-8 inches of snow could fall at locales 7,000 feet and higher.

The Salt Lake and Tooele valleys should dodge the worst of all that cold and frosty April entrance. Storm clouds, which brought rain and highs in the upper-50s to the Wasatch Front on Friday, will give way to sunshine and 60-degree temperatures on Saturday.

However, rain clouds return on Sunday, ushering in more wet weather early next week.

Southern Utah is due a similar cycle of precipitation and sunshine with Saturday sunny and in the low-70s, up 10 degrees from a rainy Friday. Sunday in Utah's Dixie will bring clear skies and the upper-70s.

The Utah Division of Air Quality declares "green," or healthy conditions statewide heading into the weekend.

As of Friday the Intermountain Allergy & Asthma website rated cottonwood as "very high" on its pollen index. Ash was at "high" levels, while maple, oak and willow were "moderate."

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

remims@sltrib.com

Twitter: @remims