Falling snow reduced visibility to nearly zero in parts of the region Tuesday, as seen on this traffic camera from UDOT in Woods Cross. Photo: KSL NewsRadio
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) issued a travel warning for Wednesday morning, advising anyone who doesn’t need to drive around tomorrow to stay put.
UDOT asks all drivers to delay travel until after 10 a.m. on Wednesday. Several inches of snow are expected, and the agency says plows will have trouble keeping up with it.
“We’re just looking at this storm, and it becoming more and more significant,” John Gleason, a spokesman for UDOT, told Jeff Caplan’s Afternoon News on KSL NewsRadio. “We just want to keep everybody safe.”
Gleason acknowledged the UDOT travel warning is somewhat unusual.
“The rate that the snow’s going to be falling tomorrow morning, especially as you get closer to the east bench … we’re looking at an intense storm that’s going to dump a lot of snow in a short amount of time. It’s going to be a challenge for our plows to keep up on all of that.”
Forecasters expect the worst of the storm to subside by 10 a.m. However, falling temperatures overnight will contribute to the early morning hazards.
“The snow is going to stick to the road surface, and so we’ll be out there all night, pre-treating the roads and making sure that we do everything that we can to keep them clear, but there’s a good chance that we’re going to be looking at snow-packed roads tomorrow for much of the morning commute,” Gleason said.
The word comes on a day filled with unusual impacts to roads and ski resorts. Several resorts opted to close Tuesday, and crews kept Little Cottonwood Canyon closed for avalanche control. In addition, forecasters say avalanche danger in the region could be called “extreme.”