OGDEN — Thursday’s Top of Utah winter storm brought snow to the valley — and some major trouble on the roads came along with it.
Interstate 84 through Weber Canyon was closed for more than three hours Thursday morning as a large convoy of semitrailers, apparently unprepared for winter conditions, got stuck trying to travel east up the canyon.
“It’s been a hellacious day on the roads so far,” Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Chris Simmons said early Thursday morning.
“We had about 15 semitrucks traveling eastbound in the canyon, and they didn’t have chains, so they got stuck. And all it takes is one or two of those things to get stuck to cause some major problems, so you can imagine what 15 of them looked like.”
Simmons estimated that, during the course of about two hours, 5 inches of snow fell in Weber Canyon during the morning storm. Utah Department of Transportation spokesman Vic Saunders said the interstate also had a crash near Mile Marker 103.
Saunders said Ogden Canyon was also closed for about two hours on Thursday because of minor accidents.
Simmons said a handful of other minor crashes occurred in Weber County, but there were no injuries.
“We’re keeping our fingers crossed,” he said. “We’ve got terrible winter conditions.”
Davis County Sheriff’s Sgt. Susan Poulsen said Davis County also had plenty of small accidents, but all roads remained open during the storm.
“We haven’t had any major accidents — just a lot of slide-offs and fender-benders.”
Saunders said hydroplaning was also an issue Thursday when the snow began to melt and water filled up drains along state highways.
“There were a lot of spots where standing water was becoming a problem,” he said. “It was pretty messy out there.”
Saunders said UDOT snowplows were out in full force in Weber, Davis and Morgan counties.
The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for the Wasatch and western Uinta mountains until 4 p.m. Thursday.
Hazardous winter weather conditions were also predicted for the Top of Utah on and off through Thursday night, but the weekend is expected to bring sun and temperatures in the 50s.
According to Ski Utah, Powder Mountain had accumulated 42 inches of new snow by 4 p.m. Thursday. Snowbasin had about 36 inches of new snow.
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