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SALT LAKE CITY — A winter storm coated roads with snow overnight and slowed the morning commute along parts of the Wasatch Front Friday morning.
The Utah Highway Patrol said between midnight and 7 a.m. Friday, there were 30 crashes and seven slideoffs in Salt Lake County, 11 crashes and five slideoffs in Utah County and 25 crashes in Davis County.
Four of those accidents involved injuries. The conditions of those people was not immediately known Friday morning.
UDOT has about 400 snowplows and most of them were out in force overnight. Still conditions varied from just wet to snowpacked, icy and slick, depending on location. Police are reminding drivers to follow at a safe distance, or three seconds.
Truck drivers who stopped to chain up along I-80 in Parley's Canyon said the snow definitely slowed them down. One driver who had planned to cover 1,100 miles now thinks he'll be lucky to make 500. "They usually shut down I-80 when it gets this bad," he said. "I mean, shut it all the way down. I was shut down last night coming through Rawlings."
- Salt Lake County - 30 crashes, 7 slideoffs
- Utah County - 11 crashes, 5 slideoffs
- Davis County - 25 crashes
Another truck driver said, "We get caught (putting chains on the truck's tires) and don't make mileage. It's better than being shut down, though, because we don't make any mileage then."
Big and Little Cottonwood canyons were closed for avalanche control until at least 9 a.m. Avalanche danger is high in the backcountry of the Ogden, Logan, Salt Lake, Provo, Manti Skyline, and Western Uinta mountains.
Restrictions were also placed on Parleys and Sardine canyons Friday morning.
Temperatures remained below freezing, adding to the threat of slick roads. Check the forecast here. And get traffic updates on KSL Newsradio.
Contributing: Shara Park, Andrew Adams and Pat Reavy
