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If you like wet and cold, you'll love this: A storm system moving into Utah on Wednesday will pack a lot of moisture in advance of a big wallop of Arctic air that will send the mercury plunging.

Get the snow shovel ready. The National Weather Service has issued a winter-storm warning through Thursday afternoon calling for "widespread snowfall that will be heavy at times."

Most valley locations statewide can look for rain changing to snow Wednesday morning and snow in the afternoon, according to the weather service forecast.

The storm could drop between 8 to 14 inches on bench locations and 4 to 10 inches on valley floors, said Brian McInerney, hydrologist for the weather service.

One to 3 feet of snow is forecast for the mountains and up to 4 feet for the Cottonwood canyons.

"It's just good news for our water supply," McInerney said.

Wednesday will dawn with southwesterly valley winds of 20 to 30 mph. The wind will shift to the northwest in late afternoon when the cold air arrives.

Highs in the mid-30s Wednesday will drop Thursday to about 20 degrees in northern Utah. Lows will plummet to single digits. At higher elevations lows will be close to zero.

Driving will be "challenging" Wednesday and Thursday, according to McInerney. Interstate 15 between Nephi and Cedar City will see storm totals of 8 to 14 inches. The same can be expected for I-70 from Cove Fort to Fremont Junction.

Interstate 80 from Wendover to Salt Lake City could get 4 to 10 inches, while I-80 from Salt Lake City to Evanston will see 8 to 14 inches, according to the forecast.

The Ogden Valley around Huntsville could see snow totals of 1 to 2 feet, according to weather service computer models.

Snyderville Basin and Park City are expected to get 6 inches to a foot of snow at 6,500 to 7,000 feet elevation. Unlike last week's heavy snows, however, this storm should drop light fluffy stuff.

It could be cold enough to snow in St. George, too. Higher elevations in Washington County will get snow with water equivalents of 1 to 2 inches, McInerney said. "But we don't anticipate any problem with flooding."

Prior to the storm, Utah's ski resorts were in excellent shape with Alta reporting a 104-inch base.

Brighton had 100 inches; Park City Mountain Resort reported 78 inches; Snowbasin, 76 inches; and Brian Head in southern Utah, 60 inches.

Low temperatures at Alta and Brighton were forecast to drop to zero Thursday and below zero on Friday.

Highs Friday and Saturday in the Cottonwood canyons should be 5 to 10 degrees above zero.

Organizers of "EVE," Salt Lake City's New Year celebration Wednesday through Friday, advise revelers to bundle up as temperatures by Friday will be in the teens. But the majority of this year's events will be inside the Salt Palace, said spokeswoman Danica Farley.

There will be fire pits and hot drinks for those watching outdoor events.

"Take in some activities outside and then come in and warm up," she said.