Winter weather advisory issued for much of Utah

The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for much of central and southern Utah through Friday morning with snowfall, heavy in places, expected to hit the region.

The storm system that settled over the state early Thursday was forecast to bring 1-4 inches to the valleys and up to a foot of new snow to the mountains and high deserts. The advisories initially covered a swath of the state stretching from Utah's borders with Idaho and Nevada south through Tooele County, Nephi, Manti, Richfield, Milford and Cedar City to southwestern Utah's St. George area.

By Thursday afternoon, forecasters had revised the advisories to drop much of the northern part of the state while including an area stretching from Nephi south to Richfield, Milford, Cedar City, Bryce Canyon and St. George, as well as southeastern Utah's Monticello. That advisory was to last until 9 a.m. Thursday.

The storm's onset Thursday morning prompted the Utah Department of Transportation to restrict travel through Big and Little Cottonwood canyons east of Salt Lake City to vehicles with tire chains or four-wheel drive. The restrictions were allowed to expire at 8 a.m.

The Utah Avalanche Center issued "orange," or considerable risk ratings for potentially deadly snow slides in the mountains above Logan, Ogden, Salt Lake City, Provo and the western Uintas; southeastern Utah's Moab earned a "yellow" for moderate avalanche risk grade.

The Utah Division of Environmental Quality rated the entire state as "green," or healthy for air quality.

Salt Lake City looked for a high temperature of 40 degrees Friday in the wake of Thursday's forecast of 39 degrees; Ogden was pegged at 39 and 38; Provo expected 41 degrees both days; Logan 37 and 38; Wendover 38 and 40; Duchesne 35 and 36; Cedar City 39 and 40; St. George 52s; and Moab 40 and 41 degrees.

remims@sltrib.com