Temperatures in northern Utah will flirt once more with records through the midweek as smoke from wildfires in Montana, California and Oregon makes already poor air quality worse in the Wasatch Front’s valleys.
On Monday, Salt Lake City tied its 2010 record high at 98 degrees and Duchesne’s 91 also matched a 1948 mark. Kanab, in sun-drenched southern Utah, broke a 1955 record of 99 with a 101-degree reading, as did Kodachrome Basin at 98 (4 degrees better than its 1995 mark).
Wednesday’s highs in the state’s capital were forecast to reach 96, 2 degrees shy of the record for the date, but still a degree warmer than Tuesday’s 95 (2 degrees below record-setting territory). Thursday will see mid-90s in the Salt Lake and Tooele valleys under hazy skies.
Party cloudy skies will turn to isolated thunderstorms and showers in southern Utah, where St. George Tuesday 103-degree forecast (2 degrees from a record) will slip into the mid-90s Wednesday and Thursday.
Combine all that wildfire smoke with existing elevated ozone and particulate pollution and you get lousy air quality, especially along the Wasatch Front’s highly populated, urban valleys. The Utah Division of Air Quality rated Salt Lake, Davis, Weber and Utah counties as “orange,” or unhealthy for the elderly, very young and people with lung or heart conditions through Wednesday.
“Yellow,” or moderately polluted skies will prevail in Box Elder, Tooele, Duchesne, Uintah and Carbon counties, with only Cache and Washington counties earning “green,” or healthy air quality grades.
If the smoke and exhaust fumes don't get you, the pollen may. The Intermountain Allergy & Asthma website reported grass as "very high" and chenopods, ragweed and mold as "high" on its index as of Tuesday.