The western two-thirds of Utah is under a Hazardous Weather Outlook as it approaches the weekend, with north winds, scattered rain showers and mountain snow expected.
The National Weather Service blames that shift from Wednesday’s balmy, mid-70s along the Wasatch Front to the upper-50s and low-60s on Thursday and Friday — and upper-40s highs come Saturday — on a cold front that has stalled over the region.
That weather system is a lot bigger than just the Beehive State, having dipped south from Canada to encompass a swath of the United States from the Northern Plains to the Pacific Northwest.
Overnight lows in the Salt Lake and Tooele valleys, in the low 40s before sunrise Thursday, slip further into the upper-30s for Friday’s predawn hours, and a couple degrees chillier than that early Saturday.
Portions of the Wasatch, western Uintas, the Oquirrhs, central and even some southern mountains could see up to a few inches of snowfall over the next few days, with some of the white stuff dusting — but not accumulating — on the benches.
The redrocks and high desert valleys of southern Utah will skip the snow but still feel the overnight nip, with lows ranging in the low- to upper-40s. Daytime highs — around 80 degrees Thursday — will retreat a degree or two on Friday, and then fall into the low-70s on Saturday.
However, no lower-elevation precipitation is forecast as breezy Utah’s Dixie moves into the weekend under clear, sunny skies.
Those winds, north and south, keep the urban valleys scoured of pollutants. The Utah Division of Air Quality’s report card for the state reflects that with “green,” or healthy air quality grades statewide as the work week comes to a close.
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