Smoke from fires on the West Coast and the Parleys Canyon Fire continued to muck up Utah’s air on Monday, but a low-pressure system will bring rain and help clear the air beginning Tuesday.
Not only will temperatures tumble on Wednesday, but there’s even a possibility of snow at the highest elevations.
(National Weather Service) There will be a red flag warning over much of Utah on Tuesday.
It’s not all good news in the forecast, however. The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for most of Utah on Tuesday from noon to 9 p.m., because thunderstorms will bring a threat of strong and erratic winds — 10-20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph. That, combined with humidity as low as 10%, will create “critical fire weather conditions” and the possibility of new fires and “extreme fire behavior.”
The thunderstorms that triggered the red flag warning may also create flash floods if enough rain falls.
Central and southern Utah — spanning from parts of Utah County to Capitol Reef and Bryce national parks and the Glen Canyon Recreation Area — will be under a flash flood watch through Tuesday evening, the weather service said.
By midafternoon on Monday, air quality was in the orange zone (unhealthy for sensitive groups) in Salt Lake, Cache, Davis, Iron and Utah counties, according to the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, and in the yellow/moderate zone in Duchesne and Washington counties.
IQair.com listed Salt Lake City’s air quality as the fourth worst in the world on Monday afternoon.
According to the weather service, Utah could see widespread moderate to heavy rainfall Tuesday through Thursday, along with the possibility of severe thunderstorms and flash flooding in areas prone to floods and near burn scars.
Elevations of 11,000 feet and higher “might even see a changeover to snow for a time Wednesday night.”
The Salt Lake City area will see high temperatures in the mid- to upper 90s on Tuesday, then about a 20-degree drop to the mid- to upper 70s on Wednesday and continuing through Friday. Overnight lows in the low 60s — maybe even the upper 50s — are expected.
It was smoky in St. George on Monday morning, although skies are expected to clear on Tuesday and the area could see rain Tuesday through Thursday. After a high of 102 on Monday and 98 on Tuesday, temperatures will dip to the low 90s and upper 80s through the end of the week.
— Salt Lake Tribune reporter Paighten Harkins contributed to this story.
