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SALT LAKE CITY — Tired of the worsening air quality tied to the latest inversion event? There's good news on the way.
A cold front is expected to move into Utah on Friday and break apart a high-pressure pattern that's resulted in the hazy air hovering over the Wasatch Front the past few days, KSL meteorologist Grant Weyman said.
Air quality levels around the region and northern Utah have been considered moderate to unhealthy for sensitive groups over that span. The KSL Air Quality Network has picked up unhealthy air quality levels at some of its stations scattered across the Wasatch Front, as well.
The Utah Division of Air Quality on Wednesday forecasted air quality to remain poor until that system arrives. It listed that air quality will remain unhealthy for sensitive groups in Davis, Salt Lake and Utah counties Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and moderate for Box Elder, Cache, Tooele and Weber counties during those days.
The cold front is also expected to bring a small storm with it that will produce anywhere from a trace to 4 inches of snow from the Central Mountains to the northern valleys between 4 a.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Saturday, Weyman said. Mountains in northern Utah will likely receive the heaviest amounts.
"We are expecting snow by early Friday morning and through the day Friday — a few more showers in the afternoon," he said. "It's not going to be much … when it's all said and done, we think under an inch for most of us here along the Wasatch Front — a little more if you're in the Wasatch Back like Park City, Heber (and) up toward Morgan."
The National Weather Service projects only about a 26% probability that Salt Lake City will receive an inch of snow or more, while Park City has a 44% probability of at least an inch and a 12% chance of receiving two or more inches.
Stealing the idea from @NWSGJT, here are the probabilities of 1" of snow and 2" of snow for the upcoming Friday/Saturday storm. #utwxpic.twitter.com/gDG5pfAhAq
— NWS Salt Lake City (@NWSSaltLakeCity) December 9, 2020
Extended air quality relief, as well as those looking for more snow on the ground, could also be in sight for the Wasatch Front and northern Utah. KSL meteorologist Kevin Eubank said the cold front Friday is expected to trigger a series of storms for northern Utah into next week. That includes the possibility of a bigger winter storm on Monday and multiple storms after that.
Snow accumulation projections for next week's storms are still to be determined. Models from the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center indicate most of the northern half of Utah will receive a fair amount of precipitation from the weather systems.
"The good news: We're breaking the high-pressure pattern (and) bringing in a trough, which will bring in one storm after another that will keep the air clear, finally bring us some precipitation and refresh the mountains," Eubank said.
Full forecasts for other parts of Utah can be found at the KSL Weather Center.
