Flights canceled and delayed, UHP and others ask drivers to delay travel

SALT LAKE CITY — Cue the winter weather… again. The Wasatch Front received as much as a foot of snow in places overnight, with local amounts varying greatly. 

Here’s some good news! KSL Meteorologist Grant Weyman reports that, for most people, the snow has stopped falling. If you have to drive into work this morning, Weyman expects a much easier afternoon commute.

Snow has ended for most already. Sunny most of the day- so once plows do their thing, should be much better for PM commute. pic.twitter.com/iPSYPAdsQO

— Grant Weyman (@KSLweyman) December 15, 2021

7:50 a.m update

Cars are lining up already to get up Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons in Salt Lake County. The Utah Department of Transportation reports that road conditions in those canyons are snow-packed and slick. They ask for patience, and say that the Utah Traction Law is being enforced.

#RoadUpdate 👋 #SR190 travelers! Snow showers have tapered @ the mouth, but road conditions are snow packed & slick. We have 1 plow in BCC @ this time. Powder traffic is beginning to build. @UtahDOT is out enforcing the #TractionLaw 🚨 Be prepared for ❄️ roads, delays possible. pic.twitter.com/sWy3nmAtCu

— UDOT Cottonwood Canyons (@UDOTcottonwoods) December 15, 2021

 

If you are traveling by air this morning, call your airline or check their web page. By 7:30 a.m., the Salt Lake International Airport reported that 31 flights had been canceled and that 43 flights had been delayed.

Crews are continuing to clear snow on the airfield. Airlines are experiencing some delayed and canceled flights. Passengers should expect departure delays due to de-icing operations. Thanks for your patience! pic.twitter.com/o5EQFaJZmU

— SaltLakeCityAirport (@slcairport) December 15, 2021

Salt Lake City police are asking that commuters delay travel if possible on Wednesday morning.

If you can avoid/delay traveling until later this morning, it may be a good idea. Our graveyard & dayshift officers have been busy responding to traffic hazards such as this downed tree & utility line near 145 South 300 East. Please be safe. #slc #SaltLakeCity #slcpd #utwx pic.twitter.com/KAbI3aujkX

— Salt Lake City Police (@slcpd) December 15, 2021

Citing dangerous driving conditions Wednesday morning, the Utah Highway Patrol asked that people work from home and stay off of the roads as much as possible.

Our Troopers worked tirelessly through the night clearing crashes, vehicles that slid off, and stranded motorist.

Its going to be a rough morning, if you can work from home please do so or go in later.

📷 No injuries in either of these incidents, just drivers going too fast. pic.twitter.com/VitelM6UBS

— Utah Highway Patrol (@UTHighwayPatrol) December 15, 2021

Kaysville police reported that the city is trying to clear as many roads as possible ahead of the brunt of the commute, but that parked cars are impacting how clear they can get the roads.

They ask residents to move cars if possible this morning.

The city has had the snow plows going all night. They’ve reached out to let us know about a plethora of vehicles parked out on the roads. We’d rather not wake you up to move it and we have been pretty lenient on the parking violations. Please be sure to get those cars moved. pic.twitter.com/t96lvAURab

— Kaysville Police (@KaysvillePolice) December 15, 2021

 

There were reports of thundersnow as the storm started making its way in.

Thundersnow .. super weird to see lightning and hear thunder in the middle of a snowstorm. It’s coming down and super windy- tomorrow morning is going to be dicey! Be careful everyone! @kslweather @KSL5TV pic.twitter.com/COS59V15Iz

— Keira Farrimond (@NewsKeira) December 15, 2021

 

 

Update: 9:48 p.m.

The storm has knocked out power to 12,577 customers, according to the Rocky Mountain Power website. The vast majority of those outages are in Davis and Weber counties.

Update 8:26 p.m.

Here is the latest on the winter storm moving through Utah.

With the arrival of the front and the quick changeover to snow in most locations, here’s an 8 p.m. update to the snow totals forecast for this event #utwx pic.twitter.com/wLBNfqnYgy

— NWS Salt Lake City (@NWSSaltLakeCity) December 15, 2021

 

Update: 7:55 p.m.

Seeing rapidly accumulating snowfall in Cache Valley and on mountain roads such as Sardine Pass and the Cottonwood Canyons already. Anticipating a rapid transition to snowfall along the Wasatch Front tonight with majority of low-lying areas seeing snow by 9-10PM. #utwx

— NWS Salt Lake City (@NWSSaltLakeCity) December 15, 2021

 

Our previous reporting

The National Weather Service posted a slew of winter weather warnings this evening. The first starts at 5 p.m. for mountain areas. And then will start impacting the Wasatch Front after 8 p.m. tonight.

Updated Winter Storm Warnings and Winter Weather Advisories are up: Warning starts for the mountains at 5PM and valleys along the Wasatch Front (with the addition of Tooele and Cache) are included after 8PM tonight. Advisory for all other shaded valleys after 8PM. #utwx pic.twitter.com/OBaVR6S98W

— NWS Salt Lake City (@NWSSaltLakeCity) December 14, 2021

The strong winds blowing this new storm system in knocked over semis on I-80 today.

KSL Meteorologist Kevin Eubank says to expect some snow overnight.

“These strong south winds are going to continue through the 5 to 6 o’clock hour tonight,” said Eubank. “Then we’ll see the onset of the valley rain and mountain snow. Once that rain gets going, that’s going to kinda shut down the winds. And then between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., the cold air gets there. That’ll take the valley rain and slip it over to snow.”

Eubank says to expect the morning commute to be impacted by the overnight snow.

The benches will get 4-6 inches, the valley 2-4 inches. And by 10 or 11 tomorrow morning, the storm should peter out. 

Follow @kirahoffelmeyer