It will cool off in Utah this week, there is not much chance of rain and thunderstorms, and the air quality is better than it has been. What could go wrong?
Well, there is elevated fire danger in southwestern Utah on Monday. Wind gusts of up to 25 to 30 mph are expected and that, combined with the dry conditions created by the continuing drought, means increased danger in the afternoon and evening.
It will hit 100 both Monday and Tuesday in St. George, according to the National Weather Service forecast, then gradually cool — upper 90s on Wednesday and Thursday; mid-90s on Friday and Saturday; low 90s on Sunday.
Officially, the first day of autumn is Sept. 22, but Utahns are going to feel the “first hints of fall” starting on Sunday and “temperatures are going to feel very fall-like by Monday,” according to the National Weather Service, when a “broad upper trough digging down from the north” will bring cooler weather. Highs in the mid to upper 80s are expected through Saturday in Salt Lake City, the low 80s on Sunday, and the 70s — maybe even the upper 60s — next week.
That will come at the end of the hottest summer on record in Salt Lake City, tying the summer of 2017.
Air quality isn’t perfect in Utah — fires are still burning on the West Coast, sending smoke east — but it is better than it has been. The Utah Department of Environmental Quality forecasts moderate/yellow air quality through Wednesday in Salt Lake and Davis counties. It will be good/green Monday in Utah, Tooele and Weber/Box Elder counties, turning yellow on Tuesday and Wednesday. Other monitored counties will be green through midweek.
