Right now in Salt Lake City, the air is about 90°F, but the model estimates the asphalt under your dog's paws is closer to 116°F — a gap of roughly 26°F, because a mix of sun and cloud is still loading heat into the asphalt. That reading puts Salt Lake City in the caution range, where short, shade-hugging walks are the most a paw should take. Air temperature alone would have told you none of this — the pavement, not the forecast, is what your dog actually stands on.
Across the 14 hours left today, the pavement in Salt Lake City is projected to top out near 151°F around 2 PM, when the air will be about 101°F — a 50°F gap between the forecast your weather app shows and the surface your dog walks on. The surface is still gaining — up about 32°F over the next three hours — so a walk taken now is cooler than the same walk later this afternoon.
In an average August, Salt Lake City sees highs around 90°F and overnight lows near 65°F. At highs like that, sun-baked pavement can easily top 120–130°F by early afternoon, so the walkable hours cluster around dawn and after sunset. As a seasonal rule of thumb, the safest windows are before about 10:00 AM and after about 5:00 PM.
Salt Lake City loses its all-day safe window in 5 months of the year — May through September — and August is one of them. The year peaks in July at an average high of 95°F against 39°F in January, a 56°F swing that decides how much of the day belongs to your dog.
Salt Lake City sits about 7 miles from West Valley City, close enough that the two usually run within a degree or two of each other — if your walk crosses between them, either page answers the question. Street-level conditions still differ more than city-level ones do: a shaded side street and an open parking lot half a block apart can be twenty degrees apart underfoot.
Whatever the number says, confirm it with your hand: press the back of it flat on the pavement for seven seconds. If you can't hold it there, neither can your dog. On a day reading this warm in Salt Lake City, flat-faced breeds like pugs and bulldogs, plus seniors and young puppies with thinner pads, should sit out the heat entirely — subtract about 10°F from any safe threshold for them. If you must cross hot ground, protective booties or a quick coat of paw wax are the only real barrier between paw pads and the asphalt.