This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Thursday was a "red" air quality alert day for Salt Lake City. Friday, too, will see state environmental health officials hoisting the crimson banner over Utah's gray capital.
That's a metaphor. Even if the Utah Division of Air Quality had such a pernicious pennant to raise, chances of seeing it through the particulate-laden haze would be nil.
DEQ issued mandatory bans on any open burning, along with use of solid fuel-burning stoves and furnaces, in Salt Lake County. The division also pleaded with commuters to leave their cars at home and choose mass transit instead to get around as the week wound down.
The air out there is just plain unhealthy in the state's most populous county, and that's for everyone this time. Health officials urged residents to avoid prolonged outdoor activity in general, and warned the elderly, very young, and those with heart and lung ailments in particular to plan on staying inside for the duration of the region's pollution-trapping inversions.
Love may indeed be in the air as Valentine's Day approaches, but the likelihood of wheezing out an "I love (hack, choke, gag) you" to that significant other might make sign language the better way to go. Because, regardless of what the J. Geils Band says, it's the air, not love, that stinks.
While the Salt Lake Valley endured its worst air quality days in years, it was little better elsewhere along the urban Wasatch Front. Earning "orange," or "unhealthy for sensitive groups" marks were Utah, Weber, Cache, Box Elder, Duchesne and Uintah counties. Tooele and Davis counties had "yellow," or moderately polluted air, with only Washington and Carbon counties escaping with "green," or healthy breathing conditions.
Forecasters say a weak storm system moving into the state late Saturday and Sunday could ease the inversions a little, but expectations were low for any dramatic, longterm improvements.
The Salt Lake and Tooele valleys looked for high temperatures in the low-40s on Friday, up 3-5 degrees from Thursday. Lows will dip into the mid-30s, and periods of morning and evening fog will add to the region's smog cover.
Along with ski resorts high above the muck, southern Utah offered relief from the pollution and clear vistas. High temperatures for Utah's Dixie were to climb into the mid- to upper-60s on Friday, same as the forecast for Thursday. Overnight lows will be in the mid-30s.
The Utah Avalanche Center rated the risk for potentially deadly backcountry snowslides at "moderate" for all of the state's backcountry mountain slopes.
For more extensive forecast information, visit The Salt Lake Tribune's weather page at: http//www.sltrib.com/weather.
Twitter: @remims