Winter overpowers spring weather

Waking up to a wintry blast of snow flurries Monday morning may have been dispiriting to many northern Utahns after a mid-70-degree weekend — unless they were planning a trip to the slopes.

The late-season storm that wafted over the Wasatch Front dropped 2 feet of fresh snow at Alta and 10 inches at Solitude, according to the National Weather Service. And it blanketed the Wasatch Front as well, ranging from 4 inches in Magna to 8 inches in Sandy by late Monday.

The windy storm sporadically knocked out power in several locations: About 1,800 residents in Weber County were in the dark, and more than 1,300 Ogden folks were left without early morning power.

Although slushy wet roads had Utah Highway Patrol officers cruising from one accident to the next, no major or life-threatening injuries were reported from the sluggish Monday morning and evening commutes, according to UHP trooper Cameron Roden.

The teasingly warm spring-like weather Utahns experienced over the weekend won't likely return until sometime next week.

Tuesday is predicted to hit 49 degrees with a 32 percent chance of precipitation, and on Wednesday Mother Nature is raising the odds to a 70 percent chance of rain or quick-melting snow.

Starting Thursday, northern Utah will see progressively warming temperatures with a high around 57 degrees on Saturday and 60 on Sunday, the NWS said.

The storm's pollution-pushing wind and air-cleaning precipitation apparently purified the air enough for the Utah Department of Environmental Quality to predict "good" air days for today and Wednesday.

— Jacob Hancock