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Gene Kennedy reporting
(AP Photo/Chad Lundquist) A major winter storm is expected to hit Northern Utah overnight with a one, two, three punch of wind, rain and snow. Right now, the wind is kicking up. It's definitely a weekend to stay put, but if you must travel, have an emergency road kit, warm blankets and a fully charged cell phone, because what's hit California and Northern Nevada is on its way here.
Pelting rain, driving snow and power lines down. First it hit Northern California, then Reno. I-80 at the California-Nevada state line is closed tonight and a blizzard warning remains in effect. This is the monster that will hit Northern Utah late tonight and early Saturday morning.
Cameron Roden, with the UHP, said, "If things get real bad, we'll have extra troopers and make sure we can handle the crashes in a timely manner."
In San Francisco, fierce winds blew semi-trucks on their sides. Troopers say they're ready to close roads if need be or put restrictions on semis. In the Sierra Nevada Mountains, hurricane-force winds are blowing at nearly 150 miles an hour.
Here in the Salt Lake valley, there's evidence that the storm from the west is drawing closer. Bruce Tremper, with the Utah Avalanche Center, said, "It's coming with very strong winds, 100 miles an hour on the ridge tops."
Officials with Utah's Avalanche Center are already on avalanche watch. Tremper said, "We're guessing we'll issue an avalanche warning with a high avalanche danger for Saturday. It should be extremely dangerous conditions -- high winds, heavy snow. All the ingredients are there for widespread avalanche activity."
Since 8:30 tonight, there have been reports of power outages in at least six communities. A substation was knocked out, leaving 4,500 customers in the dark in eastern Salt Lake County.
Among the communities hardest hit are Millcreek where 1,700 customers are without power. Another 1,600 people don't have the lights on in Grantsville, and nearly 700 are without power in South Salt Lake.
Rocky Mountain Power says it has extra crews working through the night to restore power.
