Brrr, it's cold . . . again.
But locals know cold temperatures don't signal the end of the world, only the beginning of another season, one that most of Utah is famous for — winter.
Even though flip-flops are being retired to closets and shorts have officially gotten longer, National Weather Service meteorologist Linda Cheng said winter is not officially here yet. She said cold temperatures, like those exhibited on Tuesday, are quite typical as Utah's stormy season settles in.
"We've been spoiled because we haven't had anything real cold for a couple months," Cheng said.
Tuesday's high of 39 degrees in Salt Lake City is probably the lowest daytime temperature forecast for the upcoming week, but Cheng said the below-normal temperatures are apt to hang around. With the lows may come stagnant air, which is expected to leave much of the valley submerged in a blanket of haze.
"It's not going to be like the January inversions we experience here, but there will be an inversion pattern," Cheng said.
Tuesday morning, early risers felt the effects of a bitter 24 degrees.
"For the next seven days, it doesn't look like we'll have anything warm," Cheng said.
The sun will make an appearance, much like Tuesday, but temperatures in the 40s are expected for most of the week ahead.
No storms are predicted as Cheng said high pressures over the West Coast are keeping them at bay.
November, so far, has produced above-normal temperatures, even tying the state record for the third-longest span of days without freezing. That ended Saturday night as the season's first frost settled on the drooping, but still-producing tomato plants across the state.
The record high temperature for Nov. 15 was set in 1999 when thermometers reached 70 degrees, and a record low was set in 1955 at 15 degrees.
"There's a huge range of possible temperatures this time of year," Cheng said.
E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com