This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated.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

Utah's weather through the remainder of this week will be a lot like Congress.

The forecast declares it will be hot, like the debate in the Capitol, with intermittent thunderstorms hinting at long-awaited relief, but like our lawmakers once more ending in sweltering deadlock.

The difference is we mere proletarians can't take extended breaks from our mid-summer misery. Along the Wasatch Front, that meteorological malaise means high temperatures on Thursday, like Wednesday, will be in the mid-90s, with blazing sunshine periodically interrupted by isolated thunderclaps and light showers.

Friday will see highs in the upper-90s under mostly clear skies in the Salt Lake and Tooele valleys.

The same hot and occasionally wet cycles will alternate over southern Utah, where highs on Thursday will hover around 103, up a couple degrees from Wednesday's forecast. Both days will bring scattered, sometimes heavy showers, along with thunderclaps to Utah's Dixie.

Friday will sizzle at 106 degrees in St. George, and with moisture still in the air from the earlier storms it could be a hot, sticky end to the work week for the state's redrocks and high deserts.

The National Weather Service did not immediately issue a flash flooding advisory, but forecasters did say the potential for locally heavy rainfall triggering flooding in slot canyons and fire-damaged mountain slopes remained a concern in central and southern Utah.

Certainly it will be hot, occasionally humid statewide. That's enough to keep most of us inside air-conditioned shelter; here's another reason — air quality heading toward the weekend just plain sucks.

The Utah Division of Air Quality has declared Salt Lake, Davis, Utah, Weber, Box Elder and Tooele counties as being "unhealthy for sensitive groups," or in the "orange" category. The rest of the state is not much better, earning "yellow" grades for moderate levels of ozone and particulate pollution.

The Intermountain Allergy & Asthma website reported mold "high" and plantain at "moderate" on its pollen index as of Wednesday. Other allergens were either "low," or did not register.

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

Twitter: @remims