This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
So, if Utah's February goes out like not a lion, but a wet, vexed tom cat, will March come in like a soggy lamb? Utahns are about to find out.
The National Weather Service, noting the approach of a storm front out of the Pacific Northwest, issued a Winter Storm Watch for the state's central and southern mountains Friday night through Sunday night. A Winter Storm Warning was in place in the south, covering the western San Juan mountains, from noon Friday through Monday evening.
Forecasters predicted between 2 and 3 feet of new snow for the central and southern mountains, while up to 4 feet of snow, driven by winds of 25-35 mph, were anticipated in the San Juans.
The Salt Lake and Tooele valleys will see rain and, higher up on the benches and into the foothills, snow through the coming weekend. However, that precipitation should ease somewhat when March makes its debut on Sunday, and partly cloudy skies will prevail on Monday.
So, maybe March won't exactly be a lamb; not a lion, either. Maybe, a sea lion?
Throughout the weekend, high temperatures along the Wasatch Front will range into the mid-40s. Overnight lows will be in the 20s.
It will be markedly warmer, yet still wet, in southern Utah. High temperatures in the 50s sound nice enough, but when you mix in expected gusty winds and valley rains and mountain snows throughout the next few days — well, that's winter in Utah's Dixie.
Southeastern Utah's coming high desert snowstorms translated to "considerable" risk for potentially deadly backcountry snowslides for the mountains above Moab, bu the Utah Avalanche Center rated all other districts — at least as of Friday — earned "low" risk assessments.
So, you will want a winter coat and maybe an umbrella, but at least you can fill your lungs without concern about pollutants. The Utah Division of Air Quality graded all monitoring stations as "green" through the weekend.
For more extensive forecast breakdowns visit the Tribune weather page at http://www.sltrib.com/weather/.
Twitter: @remims