This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
Finally, Utah's summer is making its exit, but reluctantly, and with a lingering, warm bear hug before fading into the mist and rain.
As if in grudging recognition that the fall equinox was already more than a week old, high temperatures along the Wasatch Front Thursday were to challenge the record books. Indeed, Salt Lake City was pegged to hit 89 degrees, tying a 2010 mark, as the region's thermometers continued to soar some 15 degrees above normal.
But autumn's patience was exhausted, finally. Come Thursday night and early Friday, a cold front spawned by a Pacific storm system was to cross into northern and central Utah. Friday's temperatures were to plunge into the 60s — below normal ranges, for a change — along the Wasatch Front as thunderstorms brought rain to the valleys and some snow to the highest of the region's mountain peaks.
The storm system also will bring winds of 10-20 mph to the Salt Lake and Tooele valleys in particular.
Southern Utahns were to hang onto the hot weather a bit longer, with highs Thursday in the mid-90s giving way to daytime temperatures in the mid-80s on Friday. No precipitation was on the horizon for Utah's Dixie.
The Utah Division of Air Quality rated air quality as "green," or healthy, extending into the weekend.
The Intermountain Allergy and Asthma website listed sagebrush as "very high," mold as "high," and other allergens "low" on its pollen index as of Thursday.
For more extensive weather forecasts, visit the Tribune's weather page at http://www.sltrib.com/weather/.
Twitter: @remims