Utah forecast: Springlike weather to rule this weekend, and beyond

Goodbye, winter. Don't let that mild westerly flow and strong high pressure aloft slap you on your departing airmass on your way out.

Technically, "winter" remains until March 20, when the vernal equinox arrives in the Northern Hemisphere. But the National Weather Service says it will be spring — in effect, if not yet officially — that rules this weekend and week beyond.

Along the Wasatch Front, high temperatures Saturday and Sunday will be around 60 degrees under sunny-to-partly cloudy skies, just a couple degrees off of Friday's mid-60s forecast. Monday will warm into the mid-60s again, and the rest of next week will continue mostly dry with highs near 70.

Soon, the flowers to burst from ground covered by snow just a week ago. Nature, if not the calendar, knows when it is spring.

As Sitting Bull told his Sioux brethren, "Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love!"

Well, southern Utahns will have a lot to love, meteorologically speaking. Saturday's forecast for Utah's Dixie called for sunshine and highs in the upper-70s, echoing Friday's conditions. Sunday will flirt with 80 degrees, a trend that will continue throughout next week.

The coming weekend also will be awash with fresh air. The Utah Division of Air Quality has issued "green," or healthy grades statewide through Sunday.

With the exception of central Utah's Skyline district ("low"), all of the state's mountains earned "moderate" risk ratings from the Utah Avalanche Center for potential backcountry snowslides.

For more extensive forecast information visit the Tribune's weather page at http://www.sltrib.com/news/weather/.

remims@sltrib.com

Twitter: @remims