Northern Utah's skiers can rejoice and drivers can breathe easy — at least on Friday — as an ongoing winter storm dumps snow in the mountains, with rain in the cities this weekend.
As of Friday morning, 20 inches of fresh snow had fallen at the crest of Brighton, with 16 inches at Snowbasin and Alta, 14 inches at Snowbird, and 11 inches at Powder Mountain, Canyons Village and Solitude, the National Weather Service reported.
Friday called for a short break in the precipitation that covered the state Thursday, but expect more tonight, the NWS reported.
Another 9 to 19 inches of snow is expected to fall in the Wasatch Mountains south of Interstate 80, with 6 to 14 inches in the mountains to the north. Park City is expected to see 3 to 9 inches of new snow.
Along the Wasatch Front, rain was expected to let up Friday morning, but it is likely to return Friday night. Rain is expected to turn to snow on Saturday, when storms are expected to extend into southern Utah.
"The heaviest precipitation will settle into far southern Utah with significant snow accumulations possible across the southern mountains," NWS reported.
Temperatures Friday are forecast to reach a high of 43 degrees in Salt Lake City, with a low of 36 overnight. As the skies clear early next week, look for a sharp drop in temperatures, with overnight lows in the teens and daytime highs around 30 for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.