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Tom Callan and Alex Cabrero reporting Air traffic at the Salt Lake International Airport came to a standstill for about an hour this morning due to snow. The entire airport had to close as crews cleared snow off all the runways.
Of all the machines that keep airports running, during a snowstorm a snowplow is probably the most important of them all. This morning at Salt Lake International airplanes had to wait -- no taking off, no landing -- until the plows finished removing all that snow from runways. It took about an hour and 10 minutes.
That meant inside there were plenty of delays. The terminals resembled a crowded mall during the Christmas season.
One traveler told KSL Newsradio, "All I know is I'm delayed about two hours trying to get to Chicago." And he wasn't the only one.
Dick Vonk, who lives in Sandy, was waiting for his niece to come in from California. With all the delays, though, her plane hadn't even taken off yet, and he was already waiting for her.
"At least an hour here. And of course with all the rain and everything they had there [California], they had a delay on her end, as well," he told KSL TV.
But like so many people who waited for the airport to open its runways again, Vonk understood that with something like this, it's always better to be safe, and clear the snow.
"After watching people here for awhile, you're right. They do have patience. They can understand. This is not your normal storm," he said.
Kelly Gibson was waiting for her father. Normal or not, she says it's winter and it's Utah.
"We live in Utah. If you don't understand being delayed because of snow, there's something wrong," she said.
Airport spokesperson, Barbara Gann, said it is very rare to shut down all the runways, all at once. Normally, the airport will shut down one or two runways at a time to clear show. But Gann says during this storm, snow fell so quickly the airport had no choice but to shut all the runways at once. The weather cell that moved through Salt Lake this morning dumped as much as three inches of snow an hour.
Kelly Gibson said, "I'd be devastated if my father came in and something happened." That is why many people tried to be understanding about the situation, no matter how long the lines were.
