Utah blanketed and now frozen

Winter arrived two weeks early and in earnest Tuesday as a big storm walloped most of the Wasatch Front.

Roads, rooftops, sidewalks and mountains of northern Utah were blanketed in white, giving commuters an unexpected extra-long drive time home and extra chores when they got there.

The National Weather Service issued the heavy snow warning for the Wasatch Front area at 2:50 p.m., but by then Snowbird already had 11 inches, Parleys Summit had 7 inches, and Farmington Peak reported 6 inches of new snow.

Snowbird finished with 20 inches Tuesday, an amount topped only by Alta, where 24 inches fell, and other mountain weather stations.

Not all areas were hit as hard; Logan reported just under 4 inches of snow, while Heber City reported 2.5 inches.

The National Weather Service forecast dry weather and partly cloudy conditions for the rest of the week. Extremely cold temperatures are expected today and Thursday, with highs in the 20s and lows approaching zero. After the arctic air mass passes over Utah Thursday, temperatures are expected to crawl back up into the 30s over the weekend.

Chris Gibson at the National Weather Service's Salt Lake office said Tuesday's storm was stronger than expected.

"We knew this arctic front was coming in and that it would bring snow to the higher elevations, but as it has settled in, it has created more snow in the valleys than we expected," he said.

The snow brought with it the usual traffic problems, including slow-and-go traffic and numerous accidents. Travelers headed south via Point of the Mountain witnessed anywhere from an hour- to two-hour commute, and traffic heading into Davis County slowed to a near stop on I-15 during the rush-hour snowstorm.

Trooper Jeff Nigbur of the Utah Highway Patrol said there were 12 accidents on Utah County highways as of 6 p.m., and five slide-off incidents. Numbers were significantly higher in Salt Lake County, where there were 47 accidents and dozens of slide-off incidents in the same period.

A flatbed semi-truck rolled on the ramp from U-201 to I-80, snarling traffic for hours.

The driver suffered minor injuries. Traffic was detoured south on I-15 to the 3300 South offramp where motorists could exit the freeway, turn around and get back on going north to eastbound I-80. Traffic was blocked until the semi's load could be cleaned up and placed on another trailer.