This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Autumn is only three days old, but Utah's Wasatch Front mountains are already dusted with white.
A cold front that brought rain to valleys left several inches of snow Tuesday at locations above 10,000 feet. Emily Moench, spokeswoman for Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort, estimated that she personally shoveled about 3 inches on Tuesday.
The storm caused a flurry of activity among resort employees, she said.
"There were a lot of employees, it was their day off and they still came up to check on the snow," she said.
It was merely a fleeting taste of what is to come, however. By 4 p.m., the snow was already melting.
And it will continue to disappear throughout the week, according to Linda Cheng, lead forecaster at the National Weather Service's Salt Lake City office.
"The storm that is over us now will slowly exit the area with some precipitation into Wednesday," she said. A gradual drying and warming trend is on tap for the rest of the week.
In valley locations, the statewide storm deposited up to a half inch of rain between Monday morning and Tuesday afternoon. Murray reported .44 inches; Sandy, .35; Saratoga Springs, .46; Beaver, .54; and Bullfrog Marina, .43.
The forecast for Salt Lake City calls for mostly sunny skies on Wednesday with a high of 72 degrees. By Saturday, that high should creep up to 79.
Southern Utahns also began Tuesday with rain showers, but Wednesday's forecast called for the sun to peek through partly cloudy skies with high temperatures ranging into the mid- and upper-80s. By Saturday, St. George should see temps in the neighborhood of 93 degrees.