This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
Rain, snow, hail and wind; a brief break, then wet again.
That was the forecast through Thursday for northern Utah, where the Great Salt Lake's relatively warm waters boosted precipitation in the colder air above, as it rolled over the state's urban areas.
Such days awakened the muse in Edna St. Vincent Millay. "April . . . is full of whispers, full of sighs, dazzling mud and dingy snow," the Pulitzer-winning poet wrote.
Tuesday dawned with fresh snow slowing commuters slogging from Wasatch Range passes into the urban valleys below, the white stuff swirled by winds of 10-20 mph. Hail estimated from pea- to quarter-sized pelted Syracuse and Clearfield, while rain — periodically heavy — fell throughout the region.
At the storm's heaviest Tuesday morning, the Utah Department of Transportation restricted travel through Big and Little Cottonwood canyons east of Salt Lake City to four-wheel-drive or tire-chained vehicles.
Afternoon thunderstorms in the Salt Lake and Tooele valleys preceded Wednesday's forecast for — you guessed it — more rain. While short-lived interruptions of sunshine will come, Thursday will continue the precipitation cycle — and even snow could accumulate in valley locations.
High temperatures along the Wasatch Front will flutter between the upper-40s to mid-50s through the midweek.
Rain, snow and hail give southern Utahns a pass over the next couple days, but not the wind. Utah's Dixie looked for stiff breezes of 10-25 mph through Thursday, with high temperatures in the upper-60s to upper-70s during the period.
So, drenched, bruised by hail, or shivering in snow, at least you can breathe deeply through the midweek. The Utah Division of Air Quality gives the entire state — with the exceptions of Washington and Carbon counties, which were "yellow", or comprised — "green," or healthy air quality grades.
The Intermountain Allergy & Asthma website put sycamore at "very high" and mulberry and oak at "high" on its pollen index as of Tuesday. Maple, birch, cedar and cottonwood all were at "moderate" allergen levels.
For more extensive forecast information visit the Tribune's weather page at http://www.sltrib.com/news/weather/.
Twitter: @remims