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After a warm Valentine’s Day, cold is coming to Utah. How much snow will we get?

Temperatures will drop to about 12 degrees below normal.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Distant trees give the illusion of exploding blossoms as Snow Geese Festival near Delta Utah draws people in on Friday, Feb. 26, 2021 during their northern migration for the start of Spring in the Arctic.

After a positively spring-like Valentine’s Day, colder temperatures and snow are headed for much of Utah. But there won’t be much accumulation and it won’t last for long.

Monday will be unseasonably warm in northern and central Utah, with temperatures in the mid- to upper 50s, and possibly 60 in some areas, according to the National Weather Service. That’s 10-15 degrees above normal for Valentine’s Day — more like mid-April than mid-Febrary.

A cold front is expected to move into Utah on Tuesday, dropping the temperature to about 43 degrees in Salt Lake City, a couple of degrees below normal. However, according to the National Weather Service, the storm will bring “only minimal if any snowfall” to higher elevations, and there’s “little chance for any valley precipitation, particularly south of Ogden.”

It will be considerably colder than usual by the middle of the week as a second front moves through. After a low of 26 in Salt Lake City on Tuesday night, it will only reach 33 degrees on Wednesday, a dozen degrees below normal.

Wednesday’s snow totals “won’t be impressive by any stretch,” according to the National Weather Service, with 2–5 inches in the mountains and a few snow showers in the valleys.

It’ll be a frigid 20 overnight on Wednesday, and a high of 37 is expected on Thursday.

The cold fronts will be good for Utah’s air quality. After yellow/moderate conditions in Salt Lake, Cache, Davis, Tooele, Utah and Weber/Box Elder counties on Monday, the Utah Division of Air Quality is forecasting green/good air on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Mostly sunny skies are expected this coming weekend, with temperatures in the low 40s on Friday and in the mid- to upper 40s on Saturday and Sunday.

In southern Utah, expect highs in the mid- to upper 60s on Monday and Tuesday. There’s a 30% chance of rain Tuesday night as the cold front moves through, dropping temperatures to the upper 50s on Wednesday.

But the sun should return on Thursday, and temperatures will rise from the upper 50s that day to the low 60s on Friday and the mid-60s on Saturday and Sunday.