N. Utah mostly misses out, but storm clobbers south

Salt Lake City missed out on a lot of the early precipitation Friday from the latest Pacific storm that rolled through Utah, but southern Utah was hit hard.

And there still is a high probability — 70 percent — of snow for the Salt Lake Valley through Saturday night, as temperatures will become colder this weekend and next week.

An avalanche warning is in effect for all Utah mountains through the weekend. Strong winds and heavy snow have combined to create risky conditions in the backcountry.

While only a skiff of snow was forecast for Friday by the Salt Lake Office of the National Weather Service, one to three inches of the white stuff are possible Friday and Saturday nights, with an equal chance during the day Saturday.

New Harmony, in Iron County, was dumped on with 12.2 inches of snow; Blanding received 10 inches; and St. George had almost an inch of rain. Salt Lake City International Airport reported only a trace of snow and just 0.09 inches of moisture Friday morning.

In Salt Lake and Utah Counties, the snow caused 18 accidents, seven slide-offs and three accidents with injuries.

Salt Lake City set an all-time record Thursday for the lowest mean sea-level pressure ever recorded there, at 28.94. That broke the old record of 29.00, set in April 2002.

Despite that low-pressure record, gusting winds and light moisture were all that accompanied it.

After an overnight low of 28 degrees, Saturday is expected to warm to 40 degrees.

Saturday night will cool to 26 degrees, and Sunday will only have a high temperature of about 37, with a 30 percent chance for more snow showers.

Monday's forecast features only a slight chance of snow, but the daytime high is expected to reach 34 degrees. A slight chance of rain or snow will also dominate the weather scene early next week.

As of Friday morning, the Salt Lake airport had accumulated just 0.29 of an inch of moisture this month. That's only about a third of the normal January amount to date.

Temperature-wise, Salt Lake's average readings are 1.6 degrees below normal for January.

e-mail: lynn@desnews.com