Winter Weather — Eastern Box Elder County, Utah

2024-11-27 · Eastern Box Elder County, Utah

Event narrative

At approximately 10:02 pm, a Toyota Prius travelling southbound on I-15 lost control and hit a concrete barrier near milepost 354, eventually coming to rest facing sideways on the interstates shoulder. A male passenger exited the car, while the female passenger remained and opened her door. A second vehicle, a Ford Expedition, hit the male outside of the car and then crashed into the passenger side of the Prius head-on, killing the female passenger. The male passenger outside of the car was transported to the hospital in critical condition. The 2 left lanes of southbound I-15 were closed for an undisclosed amount of time for accident investigation, with Utah Highway Patrol ultimately believing weather to be the primary factor. During the time around the accident, lake enhanced snow showers were moving through the area, with a nearby DOT sensor reporting moderate to heavy snowfall, slushy road conditions, pavement temperatures dropping below freezing, and snowfall rates of a half inch per hour.

Wider weather episode

A fairly mild decaying atmospheric river brushed through Utah in late November, resulting in accumulating mountain snow. This system also brought a small amount of accumulating snow to higher elevation bench locations near terrain, but most lower elevations saw precipitation fall primarily in the form of rain.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1223527. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.