This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
How cold is it, Utah? So cold you may have to chisel the dog off that fire hydrant, tree trunk , lawn jockey statue or yard gnome figurine.
Early Wednesday morning the mercury slide to -5 at Mirror Lake, and -2 readings were recorded at both Randolph and Bear River in northern Utah, while southern Utah's Bryce Canyon hit -1. Higher elevations of the Wasatch Front also shivered, with Alta at 1 degree above zero, and Heber and Park City coming in at 4 and 5 degrees, respectively.
But that wasn't the worst of it. The region also endured winds of 10-20 mph, so factor in a "feels like" wind chill that would make near-zero readings feel like -15 or worse.
Thursday's forecast calls for more of the same. Northern Utah looked for overnight lows in the 15-20 degree range, with those gusts effectively lowering the chill to zero. Southern Utahns, too, had better bundle up overnight, with lows expected to sink to the low-20s early Thursday morning.
Daytime highs will be marginally better, with temperatures expected warm into the upper-20s to mid-30s Thursday afternoon along the Wasatch Front, while highs for southern Utah should range in the mid-30s to mid-40s.
The Utah Avalanche Center, meanwhile, rated the Uintas and the mountains near Salt Lake City, Ogden, Provo and Skyline districts at "considerable" risk for dangerous snow slides on Thursday; Moab and Logan earned "moderate" avalanche risk ratings.
The Utah Division of Air Quality gave its "Green," or healthy air quality grades to all of the state's monitoring districts for Thursday.
Salt Lake City expected a low temperature of 16 early Thursday morning, with the day's high forecast at 38 degrees; Ogden looked for 14 and 36 degrees, respectively; Provo 10 and 33; Logan 12 and 29; Wendover 15 and 31; Duchesne -1 and 23; Cedar City -4 and 35; St. George 21 and 44; and Moab 10 and 30 degrees.