Utah forecast: Heat and rain combine for hot, sticky weather ahead

Temperatures oozing toward triple-digits with humidity near 90 percent? Even in Utah, that's a bayou-worthy Cajun forecast something like, "Keeyau, it hot `n' sticky out dere, cher!"

Friday morning dawned with a humidity snapshot that showed Cedar City well over 90 percent, Logan and Provo near 90 percent, Salt Lake City, Vernal and Moab flirting with 80 percent and southern Utah's Bryce Canyon at 93 percent.

The Wasatch Front looked for highs in the mid- to upper-90s Saturday, up a few degrees from Friday's forecast. Coupled with a series of thunderstorms and rain showers expected going into the weekend, well what else to say but "Poo-ye-yi, that stinks, that!"

Southern Utah will have even more reason to slide into the swampy blues. Along with Friday's series of thunderstorms and rain, the region will see highs of 100. Saturday will be a few degrees hotter than that.

Indeed, the National Weather Service place roughly the southeastern third of the state under a Flash Flood Watch through Friday night. Heavy rain threatened to fill slot canyons, dry washes and to pour down burn scars left by recent wildfires from just southeast of Provo running southeast through Price, Green River Moab Monticello and Bluff and south through Nephi, Manti and Richfield.

The Utah Division of Air Quality assigned "green," or healthy breathing conditions statewide going into Friday, though Salt Lake, Davis, Weber and Utah counties were expected to return to "yellow," or compromised air quality on Saturday.

The Intermountain Allergy & Asthma website listed only mold at "high" on its pollen index, while all other allergens were graded as "low" on Thursday.

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

remims@sltrib.com

Twitter: @remims