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Team coverageIt finally looks like winter! But all this snow made for messy driving with lots of wrecks today.
Up Big and Little Cottonwood canyons, four-wheel drive and chains were required today. Snow was definitely sticking to the ground, which caused problems for a few drivers going through Big Cottonwood Canyon, especially.
One man overcorrected and slid off the road. A woman coming down the mountain hit an ice patch and slid off into the river. Her tipped SUV was partly submerged in the water, but both the driver and the passenger got out with only scratches.
"I was on the high side, out of the water, so I undid my seat belt, climbed out; opened the door and climbed out," passenger Pat Tom said.
Law enforcement officials say the first few storms are always tough on drivers. Earlier today, Salt Lake County sheriff's Deputy Shane Chandler told us, "The conditions up here are very slippery right now. There's a half-inch to inch of snow on the road. The plows have been coming up and down. We really need to ask the people to slow down and take their time up and down the hill."
This morning, the southern part of Weber County was also hit hard. Officers there reported more than a dozen accidents, and the snow plows came out in full force. On Highway 84, we found several accidents and slide-offs. We also found several drivers caught off guard by the storm.
"It was nice this morning heading up here just a couple of hours ago. I knew it was going to snow, I just didn't know it was going to get so icy so quick," Nate Green said.
Rogeilo Cerda told us, "We just started slipping, and we hit one side first, then the other one, and then the other one again."
The conditions vary, depending on who you ask. One woman told us, "It's just wet. I didn't slip around too bad."
The Utah Highway Patrol responded to 30 weather-related accidents today in Weber, Salt Lake and Utah counties, combined.
Officers say it's important for drivers to understand that visibility is very much affected because of this storm. Also, it's not just snow and water on the road, some of what fell before it changed over to snow was ice, which makes for a very slippery combination.
But today wasn't treacherous for everyone. Many made it up the mountain accident-free and had a fun time playing on the slopes.
"[It] should get better as the day goes on. [I] think we're supposed to get a foot tonight. That'd be awesome, because tomorrow would be really good," skier Dan Dohner said.
Skier John Sumdwall said, "It's very nice out there, very fluffy; good winter snow."
E-mail: corton@ksl.com
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