SALT LAKE CITY — The weekend snowstorm is clearing out the unhealthy air quality that has permeated the Wasatch Valley throughout the past week.

Saturday's storm was expected to send a couple inches of snow to northern Utah, said KSL meteorologist Dan Guthrie, while parts of the Wasatch Front have a chance of an inch of snow as the storm moves south Saturday evening.

A second snowstorm is headed into the valley Wednesday, he added, so "the inversion shouldn't be able to build back in."

"The air quality has improved pretty much everywhere," Guthrie said, as the storm allows the trapped pollution particles to escape the low valleys.

The skies are expected to be clear by Sunday morning as the storm continues moving away, KSL meteorologist Kevin Eubank said.

"It's not a big storm, but it is an air-clearing storm," he said.

Kousha Farang, who is from Iran and never seen snow before, skis down Neffs Canyon Trail after a fresh dusting of snow in Salt Lake on Saturday, Dec. 16, 2017, as Behrouz Farang and Aazadeh Farang, right, look on.
Kousha Farang, who is from Iran and never seen snow before, skis down Neffs Canyon Trail after a fresh dusting of snow in Salt Lake on Saturday, Dec. 16, 2017, as Behrouz Farang and Aazadeh Farang, right, look on. | Adam Fondren, Deseret News

Ski resorts in Nordic Valley and Deer Valley opened Saturday, joining other open resorts at Snowbird, Brian Head, Park City and Brighton. Cherry Peak, Beaver Mountain and Eagle Point are scheduled to open later in the season.

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Temperatures in northern Utah were just below freezing Saturday evening.

St. George will see temperatures in the upper 50s in the coming week, Eubank said, while temperatures along the Wasatch Front are expected to hover around the high 30s and low 40s until the next snowstorm.

A burst of arctic air will come by next weekend, moving high temperatures to the 20s, he said.

"The storm that's coming will finally provide a blanket of snow across northern Utah," Eubank said.

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