Utah forecast: Sunny New Year's Day | The Salt Lake Tribune

Back to the cold •High winds in central Utah.

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for the last day of 2011, but mostly sunny skies and chilly temperatures were forecast for New Year's Day.

Forecasters predicted that the period of snow showers and blowing snow for an area of northern Utah, stretching south from Logan through Ogden and Salt Lake City, would be gone by the noon hour Saturday. As skies cleared, the return of more seasonable temperatures — overnight lows in the teens and daytime highs around 30 degrees — were expected for Sunday and Monday. Friday had seen the mercury climb into the 50s.

A high-wind warning was in effect until 4 p.m. Saturday for central Utah, with winds of 40 mph and gusts up to 40 mph reported. High winds also were reported along the benches of Utah County.

The snowfall enhanced the Utah Avalanche Center's warnings for several mountain areas of the state through the weekend. The western Uintas earned a "red" or high risk ranking for dangerous snow slides, while the Logan area slopes were rated "orange" for considerable risk. Ogden, Salt Lake City and Provo were ranked "yellow" for moderate avalanche danger, while Moab was rated "green," or low risk.

The freshening effect of the storm system brought "green" or healthy breathability grades for all areas of the state, according to the Utah Division of Environmental Quality.

Salt Lake City's high temperatures ranged from 39 degrees Saturday to 41 on New Year's Day and 44 degrees on Monday; Ogden was pegged for readings of 36, 39 and 42 degrees; Provo 45, 43 and 46; Logan 36, 34 and 37; Wendover 34, 34 and 38; Duchesne 33, 30 and 33; Cedar City 46, 47 and 51; St. George 56, 57 and 56; and Moab 49, 45 and 47 degrees.

remims@sltrib.com