There’s no precipitation in the forecast for Utah for the next few days as a high pressure system settles over the state, creating valley inversions and bringing increasingly bad air.
After the Salt Lake City area experienced yellow/moderate air quality on Monday, the Utah Division of Environmental Quality expects those conditions to deteriorate on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
The National Weather Service is forecasting daytime high temperatures ranging from the mid-30s to the low 40s this week in the Salt Lake City area, with overnight lows in the 20s. Lows in the single digits are expected at higher elevations.
There’s a slight chance of snow Friday — a weak storm could help break up the inversions.
That storm may also bring rain to southern Utah – there’s a slight chance on Thursday. Other than that, expect sunny skies in the St. George area, with daytime highs in the mid-50s and overnight lows in 20s.
Snow and rain over the past week have improved Utah’s drought situation a bit. A week ago, 70.7% of the state was in extreme drought, according to the U.S. drought monitor — that number has fallen to 34.01% of the state.
Utah has a long way to go, however, because 93.7% of the state remains in severe drought conditions, down just 0.15% from a week ago. And the entire state remains at moderate or worse drought conditions.