Storm put skids on Southern Utah travelers

By land and air, Thanksgiving weekend travelers returning home were foiled by Mother Nature from Saturday night to Monday morning as snowstorms across the West hampered travel, particularly in southern Utah where hundreds of vehicles slid off slippery I-15 and I-70 Saturday and Sunday.

At least once a year a sudden snowstorm socks it to the area along I-15 from Cedar City to Nephi and east along I-70 from Cove Fort to Green River and disrupts vehicle movement, officials in Cedar City, Fillmore and Beaver said. So many vehicles spun out of control and off the roads that Utah Highway Patrol troopers gave up trying to count them, but more than 200 vehicles left the road on one stretch of I-70 alone. Hundreds more slid off I-15 between Cedar City and Nephi, troopers said.

Motel owners got an early Christmas present as stranded travelers, at least those who could drive to a motel, checked in and filled scores of them to capacity. Motels from Cedar City to Nephi were full or mostly full by Sunday night, managers said.

Don Oswald, manager of the Comfort Inn in Cedar City, said his motel was 90 percent full Sunday night, and another motel affiliated with his was full. "Three to four times a year we get a good-sized snowstorm, and it really drives traffic off the freeway and forces them to stay overnight, and once a year it will fill all the motels 100 percent."

Steve Farmer, manager of the Cedar City Regional Airport, said the airport was able to plow the 9 inches of snow it received and keep the runway clear for SkyWest's two daily flights Sunday.

Troopers estimate most of the traffic on I-70 eastbound was people going home to Colorado from Southern California and Las Vegas. Because the Thanksgiving weekend was four days for most people, traffic is usually higher than on a Christmas holiday, troopers said.

In Fillmore, the mayor activated the town's Community Emergency Response Teams Sunday and had the Utah National Guard open the local armory. Some 178 people spent Sunday night there, City Recorder Jacqueline Hart said. A local stake center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also opened its doors to stranded travelers.

Hart, who moved to Fillmore three years ago from Milwaukee, said once local motels start to fill up, they let the mayor or sheriff know they won't be able to handle more customers, and they tell travelers they turn away the city has made arrangements for them to stay in the armory. "It's good for people to know they don't have to sleep in their cars."