The weather cam at the Heber airport showed snow removal in progress as the storm continued to dump fresh powder on northern Utah. (KSL.com)
SALT LAKE CITY — A slow-moving snowstorm has been snarling traffic, taking down power lines and canceling events throughout the state of Utah. Snow began falling in the valleys along the Wasatch Front just as the morning commute began.
In Parleys Canyon Monday morning, UDOT closed eastbound lanes for a time so plows and crews could clear jack-knifed semi trucks and other stalled traffic from the roadway. Two stuck semis also closed Provo Canyon.
Rocky Mountain Power said the weather was a factor in a problem that cut the power to more than 12,000 customers in the Herriman, Bluffdale and Draper areas. Much of that power was restored before noon.
To the south, a downed power line across the freeway closed I-15 in both directions near Meadow. Troopers diverted traffic through Kanosh while utility crews made repairs.
The storm was expected to leave between 4-8 inches of snow on the valley floors, and more than two feet in some mountain areas. KSL Meteorologist Grant Weyman said lake effect snow could impact some areas into Tuesday morning.
There were lots of skiers and boarders who waited hours just to have a chance to get some runs in on the untracked snow. Janine Pawlowski traveled all the way from San Francisco for the fresh powder
She says, “We were a little unprepared. We have all-wheel drive, but we didn’t have chains. So, we had to go get chains and put them on and then we realized the lines were miles long.”
One man says he tried to go up early in the morning, traffic was just too intense.
“They opened up a separate lane for the buses to the parking lot, but, it was backed up almost all the way to the freeway,” he says.
Brighton Resort sent out a press release that they got two feet of snow in 24 hours, while officials with Alta say they were hit with 17 inches.