Sunny, mellow days, the chill of night and the first scent of dying leaves. The Wasatch Front sighs, plunging into fall with memories of summer fleeting.
In other words, Wednesday’s high temperatures, under clear, bright skies, will hover around 70 degrees in the Salt Lake and Tooele valleys — a degree or two warmer than Tuesday’s forecast. Thursday promises partly cloudy horizons and highs again near 70.
Through the midweek, predawn temperatures will plunge into the mid- to upper-40s.
A time to reflect, the late film critic Roger Ebert once wrote of autumn leaves beneath an ancient tree “where once on a summer night I lay on the grass with a fragrant young woman [quoting] e.e. cummings back and forth.”
The weeks of fall are few and precious along the Wasatch Front. Already, winter had made its prelude along the peaks, bringing snow, even as overnight lows dip to near freezing in the high canyons of northern and central Utah.
Even in the sun-drenched south, fall weather nudges the remnants of summer. Wednesday will dawn partly cloudy in Utah’s Dixie ahead of highs in the upper-70s, and evening showers.
Thursday’s early morning hours will see temperatures in the mid- to upper-50s, with highs in St. George — at 105 degrees just a few weeks ago — again hovering around 80.
“This is the passing of all shining things,” a love-struck Ebert may have once recited from the capital-letter-eschewing cumming’s poem, “The Glory Is Fallen Out Of.”
Universal “green,” or healthy conditions are forecast through the midweek by the Utah Division of Air Quality, and the Intermountain Allergy & Asthma website reported no allergens at elevated levels as of Tuesday.
So, look around, inhale the crisp autumn air, glow in the soft autumn light. It all will pass, but for now, Utah shines.