Winter Weather in Salt Lake Valley, Utah

Snow Squall. A combination of multiple mesonet stations in addition to the Salt Lake City International Airport ASOS and South Valley Regional Airport AWOS 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 valley. At Salt Lake City International Airport for example, a period of wind gusts to 63 mph were observed between 6:20 pm MST to 6:28 pm MST with visibility as low as 1/2 of a mile. At South Valley Regional Airport, a wind gust to 44 mph was recorded, with visibility likely falling to below 2 1/2 miles (the visibility sensor failed for a time following the wind gust). Some additional mesonet sensors with supporting observations include the I-80 at MP 107 mesonet site (peak wind gust of 67 mph, visibility less than 3/4 of a miles), the I-215 at I-80 mesonet site (peak wind gust of 62 mph, visibility to 3/4 of a mile), and the U of U William Browning Building (peak wind gust of 63 mph). Many of these mesonet sites also reported temperatures rapidly falling below freezing as this snow squall passed.

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.