Winter storm hits Utah with wind, rain, and snow

Update: 9:10 p.m.

According to the National Weather Service out of Salt Lake City, various parts of Utah saw strong winds as the storm moved into state on Monday. 

Here are today’s wind gusts as of 5:45pm. #utwx #wywx pic.twitter.com/W6zibTuj53

— NWS Salt Lake City (@NWSSaltLakeCity) April 11, 2022

Additionally, the snow that hit the ground in northern Utah on Monday evening created hazardous driving conditions.

Traction laws went into effect for Big and Little Cottonwood canyons. Slick conditions on I-15 through Davis County caused a couple of accidents between Woods Cross and the Weber County border.

The National Weather Service also announced a Winter Weather Advisory for Salt Lake, Utah counties and the Tooele valley through Tuesday 4 a.m. Those areas could pick up anywhere between 1 and 4 inches of snow.

Winter Weather Advisories in effect for Salt Lake and Tooele valleys, and Utah County through 4AM. Accumulations of 1-4 inches. Snow will taper off late tonight/early tomorrow morning. #utwx pic.twitter.com/MEQRe48V0U

— NWS Salt Lake City (@NWSSaltLakeCity) April 12, 2022

 

Our previous reporting

SALT LAKE CITY — The National Weather Service said rain starting this afternoon will transition to snow this evening. A meteorologist said northern Utah’s weather will be quite interesting for the next few hours.

Monica Traphagan, lead meteorologist at the National Weather Service spoke to Jeff Caplan’s Afternoon News about Utah’s incoming weather.

“It’s going to be quite an interesting storm system,” Traphagan said.

Caplan mentioned the dust and wind blowing in Provo. Traphagan said those winds were caused by some showers that will continue into the rest of the afternoon.

Gusts of winds are even stronger in southern Utah. Traphagan notes that Cedar City had gusts of wind up to 70 miles an hour.

As the cold front makes its way into northern Utah, it’ll bring some heavy snow into the mountains, according to Traphagan.

Traphagan advised people to avoid traveling in northern Utah’s mountains and said the area would experience winter driving conditions. 

Start out with rain in the valleys

In the valley, the storm will start with rain but eventually transition into snow.

For those worried about their morning commute, Traphagan said she didn’t expect much impact on the roadways. She noted there would probably be an inch or two of snow sticking to grassy areas but said she doubted snow would stick to the roads. 

But the mountains, KSL Meteorologist Grant Weyman said, could see one to two feet of snow.

“It’s going to be wintery, no doubt, the next couple of days. But very very thankful to get this kind of snow up in our mountains which will certainly benefit our reservoirs and of course help with our snowpack,” Weyman said.

Most of the precipitation, according to Traphagan, will be light or gone by the morning commute.

Showers will continue tomorrow in higher terrain, and Traphagan forecasted it would last into Wednesday. 

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