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SALT LAKE CITY — Another round of snow overnight, combined with below-freezing temperatures, created slick roads from northern Utah to Utah County on Wednesday morning.
In Weber County, a man was hit and killed by a private snowplow driver in West Haven, Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Cameron Roden said. The accident happened about 3:30 a.m. in an industrial area near 1900 W. Commerce Drive. A man in a personally owned vehicle hit a pedestrian walking south, said Roden, who did not immediately know whether the vehicle was a full-sized snowplow or a pickup truck with a blade on the front. The name of the 39-year-old victim and other details about the crash were not immediately available. Commerce Drive was closed for about three hours as troopers investigated.
In Box Elder County on icy I-84, a van with seven people rolled several times in the median just after midnight near Tremonton, according to the Utah Highway Patrol. Five of those occupants were ejected, including three teenagers and a 12-year-old girl. The driver and front seat passenger, both of whom were wearing seat belts, were not ejected. Three people were transported to local hospitals with serious injuries, Roden said. But amazingly, none of the seven occupants was believed to have life-threatening injuries.
On I-15 in Utah County, a semitruck hauling double trailers heading south rolled just before 5 a.m. near University Avenue. The semitruck's driver and passenger suffered minor injuries, Roden said. Four lanes of traffic were initially blocked. By 8 a.m., crews responding to the incident had the semitruck back on its wheels and two lanes of traffic were open. All lanes were open by 11 a.m.
Shortly after that crash, Roden said another vehicle slid into the cab of the overturned semitruck. No one was seriously injured incident. Roden said the semitruck was carrying batteries and "general freight," which was not causing any extra problems for first responders.
Big Cottonwood Canyon is not expected to open Wednesday, meaning both Brighton and Solitude ski resorts are closed for the day.
"We are closed today," Brighton tweeted Wednesday morning in all capital letters. "Avalanche control work is being done in the canyon and unfortunately it is resulting in our closure for the day since Big Cottonwood Canyon Road is closed."
Solitude sent out a similar tweet, stating, "With continued snowfall and a very high risk of avalanches, SR 190/Big Cottonwood Canyon will not open today. As such, Solitude will not operate for skiing or riding today."
UDOT added in a tweet that helicopter mitigation work is ongoing and crews are working to clear debris from the road.
Little Cottonwood Canyon — which has not been open since Monday — remained closed Wednesday morning with no estimated reopening time as well. University of Utah meteorologist Jim Steenburgh, known as "Professor Powder" on Twitter, said the avalanche risk level on Little Cottonwood Canyon Road is higher than any major road in the county.
"There's nothing to stop these avalanches from hitting the highway," Steenburgh said. "People will say that the slide paths are greased … everything's buried. There's no trees, no rocks to break these things up, and so they're just running right to the road."
Alta Ski Resort tweeted Wednesday that its lifts would not open until the canyon road is reopened. But by 9:30 a.m. it sent an updated tweet that it would be closed the entire day. Likewise, Snowbird remained in interlodge mode, meaning no one can be outside the resort's buildings.
The cleanup efforts come as bands of lake-effect snow brought slick and icy road conditions to parts of the Wasatch Front during the overnight hours through Wednesday morning's commute. Multiple crashes were reported on I-15, leading to northbound delays near Point of the Mountain in Lehi and southbound slowdowns between Provo and Spanish Fork.
Another gnarly morning on the roads. We're live in Mobile 5 on #KSLToday giving you a live look at conditions. @KSL5TVhttps://t.co/oOErjIP3dd
— Shelby Lofton (@newswithShelby) April 5, 2023
Warmer weather on the way
The National Weather Service reported Wednesday that even though April started just five days ago, it has already been the snowiest April in Utah since 1984. This latest storm has produced impressive snow totals, including 67 new inches at Snowbird, nearly 29 inches in Sandy and 21 inches in North Salt Lake.
"The Salt Lake City Airport has 9 inches of snow on the ground as of 6 AM this morning, This is the highest snow depth for the month of April," the NWS tweeted.
Gov. Spencer Cox on Wednesday gave a shoutout to all the snowplow drivers who have been working nonstop since Monday.
"On what is (hopefully) the last major storm of a record smashing year, I have to thank our incredible snowplow drivers. They are worn and weary and still out there around the clock fighting these storms. (Special thanks to the LCC avalanche mitigation guys for keeping us safe)," Cox tweeted.
KSL Chief Meteorologist Kevin Eubank said snow will linger through midday Wednesday and move out by the afternoon. The rest of the week looks warmer and drier with highs bouncing into the 60s in the north and 70s and 80s across the south.
Get the complete forecast at the KSL Weather Page and check commute times on the KSL Traffic Page.
Contributing: Josh Ellis
