Snow causes travel impacts, closures, outages in northern Utah; avalanche danger high

Vehicles line up by Big Cottonwood Canyon on Friday morning. The canyon is closed for avalanche mitigation.

Vehicles line up by Big Cottonwood Canyon on Friday morning. The canyon is closed for avalanche mitigation. (Utah Department of Transportation)


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

SALT LAKE CITY — All of Utah's canyons are open again after another round of snow arrived in northern Utah, causing all sorts of headaches on Friday.

Little Cottonwood Canyon reopened to traffic at 3 p.m. after several hours of avalanche mitigation work, according to the Utah Department of Transportation. UDOT warned that the canyon will likely close again for more mitigation work at 10 p.m.

Alta Ski Area and Snowbird Resort each closed Friday because of the closure and avalanche threats. More than 2 feet of heavy snow has fallen in the area over the past two days. Snowbird also lifted its interlodge event at Snowbird Village, which is when skiers and employees are confined to buildings while avalanche work is being done.

Roads through Big Cottonwood Canyon and Ogden Canyon also reopened Friday afternoon after both were closed for some time. UDOT officials say vehicles are required to either have chains or four-wheel drive to travel through both Big and Little Cottonwood canyons but all other traction laws have expired.

The Weber County Sheriff's Office advised drivers traveling on state Route 39 to slow down and use caution because of the slick conditions.

An 18-mile stretch of state Route 92 in Utah County has since reopened after an avalanche earlier in the day. U.S. 91 at Sardine Canyon was closed for more than two hours after multiple vehicles had gotten stuck by the roadway, as well.

Avalanche danger high

While canyons are starting to reopen, the Utah Avalanche Center warns that "dangerous" avalanche conditions exist throughout northern and central Utah's mountains.

A natural avalanche fell near Laurel Pines, more than 9 miles into Big Cottonwood Canyon, according to UDOT spokesman Mitch Shaw. There were no reports of anyone buried; however, the agency tweeted that it led to snow debris of about 10 feet affecting the roadway. The road was closed for several hours because of it.

"The avalanche danger is high with large and destructive human-triggered and natural avalanches likely," Utah Avalance Center officials said in a statement. "Avoiding avalanche terrain is the safest option. Avoid being on or underneath slopes steeper than 30 degrees and avoid avalanche runout zones. Some avalanches may reach valley bottoms."

Closures and outages

Some schools were impacted by the weather. Park City School District officials closed all of its schools, while Layton Christian Academy switched to remote learning.

Meanwhile, the Salt Lake Bees were forced to postpone their season opener Friday because of the weather. The team's season will begin with a doubleheader at Smith's Ballpark on Saturday. Lagoon amusement park officials announced that they will not open this weekend after also postponing the park's opening day last week. The park is now scheduled to open on April 8.

There have also been some snow-related power outages. Rocky Mountain Power officials tweeted that a pole fire caused nearly 2,400 customers to lose power in the West Haven area. Weber Deputy Fire Chief David Reed said the pole started arcing as a result of snow accumulation, causing it to overheat and catch on fire. No injuries were reported.

The outage could continue for several hours. Rocky Mountain Power officials estimate that power will be restored by 9:30 p.m.

Storm clears out

Most of the snow is beginning to let up, though. The National Weather Service canceled its winter weather advisory for valleys across northern Utah. A winter storm warning in the Wasatch Mountains and canyons expires Friday night.

The storm has not only dropped multiple feet of snow in the mountains, but even some valley benches received a foot of new snow. The northeast Ogden bench received 13 inches of snow by 8 a.m. Friday; 12 inches of snow fell on the eastern side of Layton, according to the weather service. Cottonwood Heights and Sandy also received more than 8 inches of snow.

KSL meteorologist Matt Johnson said some scattered showers are possible throughout the day but nothing as large as Friday morning's storm. The system will begin to clear out by the end of the day, leading to a mild and mostly dry weekend.

"By this evening and into overnight, we're dry," he said. "(On Saturday), something skips by the Idaho border. That's about it. Saturday and Sunday look dry."

Those conditions will be short-lived, though. Another storm forecast to arrive in Utah on Monday has the potential to bring a few more inches of valley snow. Full seven-day forecasts for areas across Utah can be found online, at the KSL Weather Center.

Most recent Utah weather stories

Related topics

Utah weatherUtah
Carter Williams is an award-winning reporter who covers general news, outdoors, history and sports for KSL.com.

STAY IN THE KNOW

Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

KSL Weather Forecast