SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4) – Happy weekend, Utah! We’ve been battling bad air for the last several days, and our inversion doesn’t budge for the first part of our weekend.
High pressure will eventually shift further east, but it builds today and that means the pits for pollution. Air quality is suffering as a result of our inversion layers, and Northern Utah valleys are socked in with stubborn smog. In Cache County, Salt Lake County, Weber County, Box Elder County and Duchesne County, the air quality currently is or is expected to hit the unhealthy category with elevated particulate matter. For the rest of the Wasatch Front, the air quality is projected to fall into the unhealthy for sensitive groups category today, which can be especially tough on asthmatics or those with respiratory issues. Areas not dealing with strong inversion continue the warming trend and will see more sunshine as our deck of clouds from the overnight deteriorates.
Temperatures will warm up over the weekend with strong southwest flow in place, highs could be in the mid-40s on Sunday ahead of the storm along the Wasatch Front while St. George could hit 60! High pressure shifts east as we roll into Sunday and our next storm approaches. This storm will help air quality significantly, and with milder air in place, moisture could initially fall as rain/wintry mix in our valleys before changing over to snow Sunday afternoon into Sunday night following a cold front.
Through Monday, this storm looks to deliver another healthy dose of snow to our mountains, especially in our central and northern mountains where half a foot (plus) looks possible. Valleys will also have a chance of seeing some accumulations. Early predictions suggest we could see 1-4″ along the Wasatch Front, 2-5″ for the benches, 5-7″ in mountain valleys and most mountains picking up 5-10″. These totals could change as we near the storm, so stay tuned. With the chance of snow from Sunday into Monday though, we could see some slippery conditions for the Monday morning commute so heads up there!
Bottom Line? Battling bad air for our Saturday with a storm to follow for Sunday.
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