It’s going to be unusually warm on Valentine’s Day in Salt Lake City, according to the National Weather Service, but the inversions across northern Utah will stay with us at least through then.
A high pressure ridge off the West Coast — which is “record strong” for this time of year — continues to dominate Utah’s weather, sending smog-clearing storms north of the Beehive State, according to the weather service.
Northern Utah valleys will see little change in air quality over the next few days, with yellow/moderate air quality forecast in Salt Lake, Cache, Davis, Tooele, Utah and Weber/Box Elder counties, according to the Utah Division of Air Quality.
There’s a slight chance of a “weak and dry backdoor cold front” reaching northeastern Utah for a “brief period” on Friday and Saturday, which could weaken the inversions, but it won’t break them up.
The next chance for a change comes Monday night into Tuesday, when there’s a “slight chance” of snow. But it would only be temporary. According to the National Weather Service, its model “hints at [the] strong ridging returning in the wake of this system.”
Temperatures will be a bit warmer than usual through Saturday — highs of 46-48 through Saturday, which would be 3-4 degrees above normal. And it will be considerably warmer than usual on Sunday (51 degrees — 7 degrees above normal) and Valentine’s Day (55 degrees — 11 degrees above normal).
The forecast high for Feb. 14 in Salt Lake City is the average high for March 14.
Overnight lows in the upper 20s to low 30s are expected.
It also will be warmer than usual for this time of year in southern Utah, minus the smog and haze plaguing northern Utah valleys.
In St. George, highs in the mid- to upper 60s and lows in the mid- to upper 40s are expected through Monday. Normal highs are 58-59 degrees, and normal lows are 38-39 degress.
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