Trending warmer with inversion haze

SALT LAKE CITY ( ABC4 ) – Happy Wednesday, Utah! Also, happy first day of February! It’s going to be another cold day across the state, but it won’t be quite as cold compared to what we had on Monday and Tuesday.

Daytime highs will generally range in the 20s and 30s up north while southern Utah will mainly see 30s and 40s. For most areas, highs will be roughly 5-15 degrees below average. Skies will be mostly sunny to partly cloudy across the state.

However, the sunshine in our northern valleys will be accompanied by an inversion haze. We’re expecting moderate air quality for our northern valleys including the Wasatch Front, the Tooele Valley, Cache Valley, and the Uinta Basin. There is a chance though that some valleys could move into the unhealthy for sensitive groups range, so keep that in mind if you’re sensitive to poor air quality.

Meanwhile, going into tonight, it’s mostly clear skies as we drop into the teens and twenties for most with several spots falling back into the single digits.

Tomorrow won’t be too different from today as high pressure remains in control. The high pressure will be shifting from west to east over the coming days, which will result in more of a westerly flow which will help our temperatures continue to warm. Highs tomorrow will be roughly 5-10 degrees warmer than today in most spots, but with the continued inversions in our valleys, the warming will be less pronounced. A weak system brushing by on Friday will result in more clouds across the state and maybe some minimal relief from inversion haze, but the chance of any wet weather looks low with only a slight chance in the high terrain.

The warming continues into the weekend whereby Saturday we could see highs return to the low 40s along the Wasatch Front as St. George gets close to 60! With the high pressure moved away by the weekend though, that will open the door for a more potent system to move our way by the end of the weekend into early next week. Right now, models are optimistic about a storm moving in between late Sunday into Monday which could bring us a decent chance for wet weather, especially in northern Utah with maybe even a slight chance down south.

With the warmer temperatures ahead of the system, we’ll likely see any wet weather start as valley rain and mountain snow before colder air begins to move in by Monday. We’re still more than a few days away so we’ll continue to fine-tune this forecast and keep you posted!

Bottom line? A cold dry Wednesday with moderate air quality along the Wasatch Front with a gradual warming trend underway.

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