This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
Much of central and southern Utah was under a Flash Flood Watch Tuesday as monsoonal moisture rumbled into the region, punctuated by thunder, lightning and locally heavy rainfall.
The advisory, which encompassed an area stretching from the mountains east of Provo running southwest through Delta and St. George, south to Zion National Park and southeast to Green River, was to run through Tuesday night.
The National Weather Service warned that normally dry washes, recent burn scars, slot canyons and mountain streams and creeks all were at risk for sudden flooding.
Indeed, St. George area neighborhoods reported several homes had flooded basements Tuesday morning, and Washington County officials were keeping a close eye on area rivers as well.
The Wasatch Front, too, was expecting significant rainfall, propelled by winds in the 15-25 mph range and accompanied by thunderstorms. High temperatures — on Monday in the mid-90s — were forecast to dip into the upper-70s on Tuesday before returning to the mid-80s on Wednesday, when precipitation was expected to ease somewhat.
Southern Utahns, scorched on Monday by near triple-digit temperatures, looked for highs in the mid-80s on Tuesday and the upper-80s on Wednesday. Thunderstorms were to make an encore on Wednesday, though rainfall was expected to be markedly less.
All that rain was expected to scour the atmosphere of pollutants. The Utah Division of Air Quality rated the entire state as "green," or healthy heading into the midweek.
The Intermountain Allergy & Asthma website listed chenopods as "very high" and mold "high," ragweed "moderate" and other allergens "low" on the pollen index as of Tuesday.
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