SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – Happy Friday, Utah! It’s going to be a gorgeous day across the Beehive State with mild temperatures and sunny skies. Daytime highs will hover right around our seasonal norms in both northern and southern Utah.

The bottom line? Our stretch of dry skies and mild temperatures holds on for our Friday, but a cold front is set to move in to bring a big cool down by the end of the weekend! 

Along the Wasatch Front, highs will range in the mid to upper 70s while some in Utah County will hit 80s while down in St. George, we’ll come in right around 90. Here’s some advice for your Friday: enjoy it! Changes are coming for the weekend, but we have seen an absolutely stunning last week of September throughout the state. 

With more of a southerly flow returning, temperatures in northern Utah will run slightly higher today. It will be another day of mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies, but winds will begin to increase.

The increasing winds pose a bit of an issue for eastern Utah. Southerly winds will blow some dust and the gusty conditions, combined with dry fire fuels and low relative humidity values creates a critical fire risk in southern Uintah County and most of Grand County where a Red Flag Warning is in effect through this evening. Avoid burning, secure chains, and follow any local fire restrictions! We also have a Fire Weather Watch for San Juan County for the same reasons, which will hold until 8 p.m. 

Our southerly flow is an indicator of the weekend changes ahead.  By Saturday a system dropping in from the Pacific Northwest will begin to move in our direction, and ahead of this system, we get an increase of southerly winds statewide. Gusty winds will blow dust in Washington County and could lead to a bit of warming before a strong cold front sweeps through the state.

This potent cold front will bring a change in temperatures and precipitation potential between Saturday and Sunday. The first half of Saturday looks dry and windy as moisture gradually begins to increase. By Saturday evening moisture potential will increase and by Sunday, there will be a good chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms statewide.

Between Friday and Sunday, daytime highs will drop roughly 15-20 degrees with most in Utah seeing 50s and 60s on Sunday with only a few spots like St. George getting into the low 70s. Moisture potential likely lingers into early next week as temperatures remain below seasonal norms. 

With the cooler air and moisture potential we will likely see snow in the highest elevations of northern Utah, but just how much and how low the snow line will drop is still up in the air. At this point, above 8,500ft. looks likely, but we’ll continue to fine-tune this forecast as we get closer. In the highest elevations, above 10,000ft. several inches of snow looks possible!

The timing of the precipitation will play into this as well because we could see a few flakes wanting to flirt with mountain valleys overnight. Stay tuned! 

With Utah’s 4Warn Forecast both on-air and online you can stay on top of all the weather changes the Beehive State has to offer! We are Good4Utah!