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(KSL News) The heavy snow is causing problems on several levels this morning.
Power is out in large areas all over the Salt Lake valley due to downed power lines that were weighed down by heavy snow. Thousands of customers are affected. The Salt Lake County complex at 21st South will be closed because of the outage.
Power company crews are still working to repair the lines and keep live lines out of the road. But heavy snow is hampering their efforts.
And fires crews were dispatched all over the valley, putting out fires caused by the downed lines.
Plenty of accidents are blamed on slick and snowpacked roads. While Utah County has been spared so far, Davis, Salt Lake and Tooele Counties report treacherous driving in some areas. The Utah Highway Patrol reports at least 12 slide-off accidents on the highways.
Also-- many traffic signals are not working in the Salt Lake Valley due to the power outages.
Snow plows have been working to clear major roads through the night, but many neighborhood streets are clogged with snow and some are littered with downed tree branches.
Some areas recieved almost a foot of snow in just under six hours. Ski resorts have received anywhere from a foot and a half, to three feet of new snow.
Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons were closed this morning. Big Cottonwood was expected to reopen around 9:45 and Little Cottonwood should open shortly after that. American Fork Canyon will remain closed, possibly for a couple of days, while crews clear debris from snowslides.
A heavy snow warning remains in effect for today.
