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SALT LAKE CITY — Bundle up and bid adieu to what's been an unseasonably warm and dry October. A cold front will sweep in Sunday and temperatures will plunge as much as 20 degrees cooler than what is normal this time of year.
For residents along the Wasatch Front who have reveled in this month's temperatures parked at 10 to 15 degrees warmer than typical, Sunday's abrupt change to cold will bite — literally.
"A taste of true fall is finally coming," said Eric Schoening, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City, adding some spots will experience a hard freeze, frost will adorn lawns and snow will dust some mountaintops.
"We will have much cooler days and evenings heading into Monday and Monday night. It will slowly warm up as the week goes on," he said.
KSL meteorologist Dan Guthrie predicts the high temperature on Halloween along the Wasatch Front to be 72 degrees, about 14 degrees above normal.
Schoening said October has had 15 days when temperatures have been greater than 70 degrees, and depending on how cold it gets and how much moisture falls with this storm, the month is on track to be the fourth driest and warmest October on record for the Salt Lake City International Airport.
"It certainly has been warm, delaying our transition into the fall and winter seasons," he said, adding that October is typically a pretty wet month for the area.
Saturday's daytime highs along the Wasatch Front are expected to be in the upper 70s or maybe 80 degrees before things cool off on Sunday.
Eugene Swalberg, spokesman for the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation, said the warm weather combined with the UEA weekend had state parks packed across Utah.
We will have much cooler days and evenings... It will slowly warm up as the week goes on.
–Eric Schoening
"All of the state parks were reporting increased visitation because the weather was just so gorgeous," he said.
He said for UEA weekend in 2013, eight camping spots were filled at Deer Creek State Park, while 24 were taken this year.
The bliss for warm-weather lovers, however, will evaporate with the low temperatures that will reach the 20s and 30s outside of the Dixie region early next week and include a hard freeze people should plan for.
Monday's high is forecast to be 52 degrees, Schoening said, about 10 degrees below the seasonal normal.
The winding down of October warmth is also accompanied by an advisory issued by the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area that Lake Powell is switching to its "winter" operational season.
Cynthia Sequanna, a spokeswoman for the recreation area, said people should be most mindful that the Dangling Rope Marina store and fuel pumps will shut down as of Dec. 1 and the snack bar ceases operations Nov. 1.
September and October have been proven to be one of the steadiest, and most beautiful times of the year for the water playground, but the weeks ahead bring thinning crowds, Sequanna said.
"As temperatures start to dip, visitation will taper off," she said, "but we do have people who come here year round to seek the solitude and will brave cooler conditions."
