Utah forecast: Cold out there, but at least you can breathe

Icicles may dangle from nostrils, eyelashes and whiskers, but at least the cold air Utahns breathe will be healthy as the first full week of the new year gets underway.

A couple of weak storm systems over the weekend cleared away the inversion-trapped pollution from the Wasatch Front's urban valleys, but temperatures remain subnormal. The Salt Lake and Tooele valleys, for instance, expect highs on Tuesday in the upper-30s after morning lows in the teens and 20s — an encore for Monday's forecast.

A slight chance for snow and rain is on the northern Utah menu for Tuesday night and early Wednesday, but amounts aren't expected to amount to much.

In southern Utah, though, highs will range into the mid-50s with overnight lows in the teens to upper-20s. No snow or rain is on the horizon as far as mid-week.

The Utah Division of Air Quality gave the entire state its "green," or healthy grade on Monday, and that will remain the case Tuesday, with the exception of "yellow," or moderate air quality ratings on Tuesday for Salt Lake, Davis, Weber and Utah counties.

A new cycle of weak storm activity is expected to arrive Wednesday, keeping the air clear.

The Utah Avalanche Center early Monday rated the risk for potentially deadly snowslides at "considerable" for the slopes above Logan and the Uintas, while the remainder of the state's mountains were "moderate."

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

remims@sltrib.com

Twitter: @remims