The National Weather Service in Salt Lake City warned that the skies could get smoky in northern Utah on Thursday, pushed into the area behind a “frontal passage” that will drop temperatures by the end of the week.
So the good news is that this stifling heat wave is coming to a close. The bad news is air quality will be compromised.
The local office of the National Weather Service has been extremely busy this summer, between record-setting heat and an active monsoonal season bringing flash flooding to southern Utah.
The heat is on: If you feel like you’ve been melting this summer, it is probably because you are, with Utah and the rest of the West suffering under an intense heat dome. California power operators have urged massive conservation of energy to preserve its grid, even warning residents to refrain from charging their electric cars. According to CNBC, the Golden State was able to avoid rolling blackouts, even as Sacramento reached 115 degrees earlier this week, shattering a record set nearly 100 years ago. And yes, it reached 107 degrees in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, only the fifth time since record keeping began.
Relief in sight: Utah residents will experience “cooler” temperatures by Friday — if you can call the high 80s or low 90s that. It does represent a 10- to 15-degree drop, however, from where we have been.
The National Weather Service is also reporting that there is a chance for “above normal” precipitation for Utah and other parts of the West from Sept. 12 to Sept. 16, according to information from the Climate Prediction Center that will be updated as those dates get closer.
That precipitation will be widely welcomed by farmers, ranchers and others impacted by the relentless drought that researchers say is the worst to hit the western United States in 12 centuries.
The moisture, if it comes, will help to lessen the blow of shortened irrigation seasons throughout the state.
Weber Basin Water Conservancy District will keep the secondary water flowing until Sept. 26, but it is still asking its service area to limit watering to one day a week now that we’re in September.
