Utah forecast: Warm and wet in the north, hot and dry in the south

Warm and periodically wet is the forecast for northern Utah has the new week begins, but the weather farther south will be just plain hot and dry.

The Wasatch Front looked for high temperatures Tuesday near 80 degrees, along with isolated thunderstorms and rain showers throughout the afternoon. Lower those temperatures a few degrees, and you have a repeat of the forecast for Monday's northern Utah weather.

There will be no wet relief in southern Utah, however. Highs on Tuesday in Utah's Dixie are predicted the reach the mid- to upper-80s under clear, sunny skies — a climatological echo of Monday's forecast.

Breezes of 10-20 mph may offer some relief, but the wind also will exasperate the existing low humidity of the region, making already tinder-dry grasslands and forests even more vulnerable to fire.

That was the reasoning behind the National Weather Service's decision to issue a Red Flag Warning for wildfire danger in southwestern Utah through 10 p.m. Tuesday.

The Utah Division of Air Quality predicted breathability rated at "green," or healthy, for all monitoring stations through the midweek.

The Intermountain Allergy & Asthma website's pollen index was "high" for maple and oak and "moderate" for sycamore and grass.

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

remims@sltrib.com

Twitter: @remims