Winter Weather — Tooele and Rush Valleys, Utah

2024-01-09 · Tooele and Rush Valleys, Utah

Event narrative

Snow Squall. Multiple mesonet stations recorded periods of strong wind gusts (multiple periods in excess of 30 mph) and significant reductions to visibility as a well defined band of snow moved into the area, and gradually began to fall apart as the evening progressed. Some examples include the I-80 @ mp 78 mesonet site (peak wind gust of 59 mph, visibility below 1/2 of a mile), the I-80 at MP 79 Timpie mesonet site (peak wind gust of 65 mph), the I-80 at MP 81 Dolomite mesonet site (peak wind gust of 56 mph), and the Grantsville South mesonet site (peak wind gust of 54 mph). Additionally the Bolinder Field-Tooele Valley Airport AWOS reported a max wind gust of 37 mph with visibility to 1 3/4 of a mile as the band started to become less defined. Many of these mesonet sites also reported temperatures rapidly falling below freezing as this snow squall passed.

Wider weather episode

Snow squalls developed and moved southward through northern Utah during the evening hours on both January 9 and January 10, bringing impacts to the evening commutes. Utah Highway Patrol reportedly responded to 101 vehicle accidents on 1/9, and 143 vehicle accidents on 1/10. A portion of these will be included in rough event damage estimates. Surprisingly, no injuries were reported with these accidents.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1150662. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.