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Snowfall along the Wasatch Front made for a messy commute this morning.
Interstate 15 is open through Ogden, but for a couple of hours this morning traffic was backed up there. A semi jackknifed around 6 a.m. and took out a cement barrier near 450 North in Ogden.
"It was early in the morning, the roads were wet and slick," explained Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Doug Whitlock. He says the driver was going too fast for the conditions.
He says fortunately no other vehicles were near the semi when it crashed. The driver suffered minor injuries. It's unclear if he'll be cited.
I-15 seemed to be the trouble spot. A crash at 5300 S. backed up traffic for hours. By 10 a.m., UHP had responded to 35 crashes and two slide-offs. There were another five to 10 reported in Utah County.
Little Cottonwood Canyon was closed early this morning for avalanche control. But by 8 a.m., the canyon was open, and yellow flashing lights warned drivers that 4-wheel drive or chains would be required.
Yesterday, Nancy Clinton and her friend waited in traffic for hours as another driver ignored that warning. Today's she's not taking that chance. "When we drove up, there was an accident, someone drove off the road because someone was driving too quickly," she said.
By 10:30 a.m., most of the major roads like I-80 were wet but moving at freeway speeds. Some of the surface streets, however, were not so clear. That's one of the reasons Natalie Brush and her two boys stayed home today. She said, "Someone called us and said one of our relatives got into an accident, so we're keeping the phone with us. And we're like, should we not go anywhere and just play in the snow today?"
Most areas of the valley saw one to two inches of snow this morning; on the east benches it was closer to three. Brush says that was enough for her to pull out the snow blower, her son to do snow angels and for her little one to help.
Jason McMillen and his friends are visiting from Minnesota; they say today's storm is nothing compared to what they're used to. "It's no surprise to us. We think it's funny everyone out here is putting chains on and all scared, not me!" he said.
One other area hit pretty hard for the second day in a row was Weber County. It received several more inches of snow today.
Crews with Rocky Mountain Power worked through the night to restore power to dozens of Utah County residents. The homes were part of nearly 400 in Provo and Orem and another 400 in Layton that were without power late last night. We're told everything is back up and running this morning.
At one time yesterday more than 5,000 customers were without power in parts of Weber and Utah counties as a storm hit the Wasatch Front.
With all the new snow from the storm that started yesterday, officials have issued an avalanche warning for the Wasatch Range backcountry from the Idaho border south to Mount Nebo.
The Utah Avalanche Center says there's also a high avalanche risk in the mountains above Ogden, Salt Lake and Provo.
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