Below average temperatures now; milder weekend ahead

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – Happy Thursday, or happy Friday eve Utah! Through the first half of the morning, we’ll hold onto a slight chance for some lake effect snow with the best chance being in the western portion of the Salt Lake Valley over to the Tooele Valley. By midmorning into the afternoon any chance of wet weather will be coming to an end as high pressure moves in from the west. Even with the added sunshine it will be a cool day across the state thanks to yesterday’s cold front. Highs will only manage 30s and 40s up north with mid to upper 40s along the Wasatch Front as southern Utah gets mainly 40s and 50s with St. George only managing lower 60s. In southern Utah we’ll see some strong northerly winds during the first half of the day and in lower Washington County, a wind advisory will be in effect until midday as we could see gusts up to 45 mph.

Tonight, will be COLD across the state. Just about everyone outside of the lower elevations of southern Utah will see overnight lows below freezing, but even in lower Washington County, lows will fall into the 30s. For most, it will be about 2-3 degrees colder than what we woke up to this morning and some patchy frost will even be possible along the Wasatch Front.

With the high pressure settling in though, daytime highs will begin to moderate by Friday afternoon. This will lead to highs running about 5-8 degrees warmer across the board landing northern Utah predominately in the 40s and 50s while southern Utah climbs to the 50s and 60s. This weekend will continue with the high pressure, resulting in daytime highs resembling seasonal averages with sunshine. Overnights will remain cold/chilly, but that’s expected for this time of year.

We won’t see too many changes for our Monday; however, models are liking a more active pattern by the middle of next week that could result in widespread wet weather across the Beehive State and much cooler temperatures for the second half of next week. We’ll continue to monitor the trends and keep you posted!

The takeaway? Calmer skies with well below average temperatures today ahead of moderating temperatures this weekend.

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