This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Dreaming of a white Christmas? You should get your yuletide desires — but don't go looking for a Bing Crosby-level event.
Snow there will be, but not up to your knees. Utah's valley residents may have to settle for a rather thin blanket of the white stuff — and Santa may mull switching his sleigh's silver blades to some steel-belted radials as he makes his approach to the Wasatch Front next week.
The National Weather Service predicts that a storm system due to arrive on Wednesday will bring moderate snowfall to mountains in central and southern Utah, but the northern parts of the state will mostly dodge the precipitation. Only an inch or two was forecast for the northern mountains, with scattered rain showers at lower elevations.
By Thursday afternoon, the high pressure system will move the storm east. Drier, mild conditions will prevail going into the weekend. The longterm forecast calls for a sunny Christmas Eve, but does finally offer hope for some snow on Christmas Day itself.
Wednesday was expected to bring above-normal highs in the mid-40s along the Wasatch Front, echoing Tuesday's forecast. Overnight lows will be in the mid-20s.
Southern Utahns looked forward to daytime highs upper-40s on Wednesday, up 7-10 degrees from Tuesday. Early morning and late evening rain was possible.
The Utah Division of Air Quality graded the entire state as "green," or healthy going into the latter part of the week.
The Utah Avalanche Center rated the risk for potentially deadly mountain snowslides beginning Tuesday as "moderate" for all monitoring areas.
For more extensive forecast information, visit the Tribune's weather page at: http://www.sltrib.com/weather.
Twitter: @remims