Cooler in the north, critical fire conditions for south and east

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Happy Friday, Utah! Today will be notably cooler in the north with temperatures about 10 degrees cooler than where they were yesterday.

Daytime highs in northern Utah will be in the mid to upper 80s and mid 70s to low 80s for higher terrain. This is thanks to a dry cold front that moved through last night, but the front looks to stall in central Utah where highs will be just a few degrees cooler than yesterday, topping out in the upper 80s and low 90s. Southern Utah will see similar temperatures to yesterday with highs in the 90s for most and low to mid 100s for hot spots. Northern Utah will see a mix of sun and clouds while central and southern Utah get mostly clear skies. 

Dry air is still in place and with breezy conditions ahead of the front — the fire risk remains critical for eastern and southern Utah. Red Flag Warnings are in effect through tonight for some, while others hold through Saturday. The places where the warning expires tonight include the Uinta Basin, Ashley National Forest, Tavaputs Plateau, and the Manti National Forest. The alerts that hold into Saturday night include Grand Staircase, Color Country Mountains, San Rafael Swell, Book Cliffs, southeast Utah, and the Central Mountains where the Monroe Canyon Fire is currently burning over 67,000 acres. Conditions will generally be the same with winds out of the west reaching 15-25 mph and gusts in the 30-40 mph range, humidity will drop as low as 8-15%. 

We kick off the weekend with relatively mild weather in the north and temperatures still in the mid to upper 80s. On the other hand, southern Utah will still be toasty with highs lingering in the 90s and triple digits. Partly cloudy skies are expected for Saturday, but apart from the chance of a light mountain shower near the Utah-Colorado border, no precipitation will come of it.

Things start warming back up Sunday and the north returns to seasonal temperatures, joining southern and central Utah with highs returning to the low and mid 90s.

The bottom line? Cooler weather is on deck for the north this weekend, but still hot in the south. Critical fire conditions in eastern and southern Utah with Red Flag Warnings in effect.

We’ll keep you updated on the latest developments in our 4Warn forecast both on-air and online, we are Good4Utah!