This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Northern Utah begins the new work week with mild summer. But in the south? Charlie Daniels might say it's a case of the "Devil went down to [St.] George-ia."
So, "Johnny, rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard." Won't do much good, though. Southern Utah's still going to be hot as Hades.
St. George will be baked by triple-digit heat all week. Tuesday's daytime highs were to reach 107 degrees, up 2 degrees from Monday's forecast. All that under a mostly clear, blazing sky without a drop of rain on the horizon.
Super-dry conditions (relative humidity as the week unfolded was a bone-dry 7-11 percent), combined with west winds gusting to 30 mph and parched high deserts, rangelands and forests, brought a "Red Flag" wildfire danger warning through 10 p.m. Monday. That alert included northeastern and eastcentral Utah, especially the San Rafael Swell region below 6,500 feet elevation.
The Wasatch Front's forecast was milder, but still expected temperatures to rise as the week progressed. Tuesday's forecast called for highs in the upper-80s, up a few degrees from Monday's expectations. Clear, sunny skies were on the region's meteorological menu.
The Utah Division of Air Quality projected a mixed assessment for breathability on Tuesday. Salt Lake, Davis, Weber and Utah counties all looked for "yellow," or compromised air quality. Box Elder, Cache, Tooele, Washington, Carbon, Duchesne and Uintah counties were graded "green," or healthy.
The Intermountain Allergy & Asthma website, meanwhile, listed only mold at "high" levels on its pollen index, while grass and plantain came in at "moderate" on Monday.
If you want more extensive forecast information, check out the Tribune's weather page at http://www.sltrib.com/weather.
Twitter: @remims