"The first snows are always the worst," Watson said. "People aren't used to the slick roads and they get overconfident."

As if snow is not tough enough to deal with, "we're going to get some really cold weather," Randolph said. "This will be the coldest so far" this season.

While temperatures were in the 40s on Monday, by Wednesday the high should drop to the mid-20s. "That's record cold afternoon temperatures," he said.

Thursday's low is expected to be about 10 degrees. "That's the jaws of January kind of temperature," Randolph said.

The storm was predicted to hit most of the state. Even St. George, in the normally warmer southwest, might have some snow flurries, he said. But that wasn't certain.

Snow should stop falling by midday Wednesday. But icy temperatures will follow.

By Thursday, the sun should be shining but the temperatures were expected to reach only into the high 20s. With a layer of white on the ground, cold air in the valleys, and a probable temperature inversion, Thursday threatens to be a meteorologically unpleasant day.

Why, one might wonder, would snow and cold pummel Utah after a stretch of glorious fall weather?

"It's just a natural balance," Randolph said.

"We went for over a week at very warm to record levels of heat." After such a spell of balmy temperatures, he added, "as often as not we see the pendulum swing the other way."

Monica Traphagan, meteorologist with the National Weather Service forecast office, said the storm probably won't be followed soon by another heavy pelting.

"It looks like right after this storm we have high pressure coming in," she said. A storm front could sweep in on Friday, but "it looks to be pretty weak, and might stay north of this area."

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Contributing: Wendy Leonard

E-mail: bau@desnews.com