Hot weekend ahead with an elevated fire risk

SALT LAKE CITY ( ABC4 ) — Happy Saturday, Utah! High pressure is settling in which means temperatures are set to crank up over the weekend, putting us about 10 degrees above seasonal norms.

Daytime highs will be in the 90s for most, with upper 90s for the Wasatch Front and low 100s for the hot spots like St. George and Lake Powell.

Sunday will be similar to Saturday, but warmer by a degree or two. Salt Lake City is forecasted to hit its third triple-digit day of the year. High pressure brings warmer temperatures and dry sunny skies over the weekend, but Sunday could have a few showers near the Utah-Colorado border.

The dry skies will make for pleasant weather, but it presents another weather threat: Fire danger. The National Weather Service has issued a Fire Weather Watch for the west desert and portions of southern Utah which will be in effect Sunday afternoon through Sunday night.

Areas impacted include the Mojave Desert, Color Country West Desert, Grand Staircase, and the West Desert in central Utah. Relative humidity is expected to fall as low as 6 to 15 percent, with sustained winds of 10 to 25 miles per hour out of the southwest and gusts upward of 35 miles per hour. There is a good chance the Fire Weather Watch will be upgraded to a Red Flag Warning as we get nearer.

The weather pattern makes a shift to kick off next week thanks to a low-pressure system out of the northwest skimming us to the north. While the heart of the system won’t move into the Beehive State, it will flick a mostly dry cold front our way.

Temperatures will drop by about 10 degrees, which puts us within a couple degrees of seasonal norms. Highs next week will range in the upper 80s to low 90s for most, but the hot spots will remain in the low to mid 100s.

The Fourth of July is a little too far to forecast with much accuracy, but the latest models indicate the low 90s for the Wasatch Front and upper 100s in St. George with sunny skies.

We’ll keep you posted on the latest updates in our 4Warn Weather forecast both on-air and online. We are Good4Utah!

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