Cedar City, Utah UT Hotels/Motels/Lodging

This is the current conditions weather report for Cedar City. The report was made 27 minutes ago, at 12:53 UTC. The temperature was 37°F / 3°C, with a dew-point at 37°F / 3°C. The atmospheric pressure was 30.12 inHg / 1021 hPa. The relative humidity was 52%. The skies were clear.

Cedar City is a city located in Iron County, Utah, 250 miles South of Salt Lake City on Interstate 15. It is the home of Southern Utah University and the Utah Shakespearean Festival, among other festivals. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 20,527, and by 2004 was estimated at 22,224.

Cedar City was founded by John M. Macfarlane and originally settled in 1851 by a group originating from Parowan, Utah to be the site of an iron works. The area was originally named "Fort Cedar" after the abundant local trees (which are actually Juniper trees). In 1855, a new site, closer to the iron works and out of the flood plain of Coal Creek, was established at the suggestion of Brigham Young; present day Cedar City is located at this site.

The iron works was closed in 1858, though iron continued to be mined in the area until the 1980s. The completion of a railroad connection to Cedar City in 1923 established the area as a tourism gateway to nearby national parks.

The city has shared in the rapid growth of much of Southwestern Utah since the late 1980s.

Cedar City is located in the southeast Great Basin, and is about 20 miles north of the northeastern edge of the Mojave Desert. Its elevation of 5,840 feet gives it a much different climate from nearby Utah's Dixie, but it retains its cultural ties to St. George — the two cities, for example, share a daily newspaper.

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