A winter-preview snowstorm brought nearly a foot of powder to parts of the state and brought record low temperatures with it Sunday.

In West Haven and Roy, the storm left 11 inches of snow by noon, said Colby Neuman with the National Weather Service. And the Salt Lake airport received a record 0.4 of an inch of snow along with a high temperature of 40 degrees Sunday, the lowest high temperature on record for the city for Oct. 12, according to the Weather Service.

"It was a cold day," Neuman said, "but we'll warm up."

Forecasters expect some snow showers this morning, but things should clear up — and warm up — as the week progresses. The Weather Service expects highs in the 70s by Thursday.

That should come as good news for drivers who got their first taste of winter driving over the weekend.

A stretch of I-15 through Box Elder County was closed for two hours Sunday afternoon when snow caused a series of freeway crashes and slide-offs.

"They got a lake effect that swirled around and socked them," said Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Ted Tingey. "It just caused havoc."

Between 1 and 4 p.m., there were 25 slide-offs and 22 crashes just south of Brigham

City, including a collision that sent a young mother to the hospital in critical condition.

About 4 p.m., the 22-year-old mother was northbound on the freeway with two young children in the back seat of her car, Tingey said.

"She was just going too fast for the snowy road and she lost control," he said.

The woman's car crashed into the median and bounced back into traffic, where it collided with a car carrying two 18-year-old women on their way to Utah State University, Tingey said.

Because of the snow, a helicopter was not able to land at the crash site. The mother was taken by ambulance to a location where the aircraft could land, and the woman was flown to Ogden Regional Medical Center in critical condition.

Her two children were taken by ambulance to the same hospital in stable condition. The two college students were taken to a Brigham City hospital in serious but stable condition.

"We're very lucky that everyone was buckled," Tingey said. "It's the first snowstorm of the year, and people think they can drive faster than the weather conditions allow, but they can't."

The freeway was closed near the crash site for about two hours Sunday. Tingey said the snow caused only minor problems in other parts of the state.

Northern Utah was hit hardest by the storm. Ogden and Clearfield reported eight inches of snow, while the Olympus Cove area got more than six inches, according to the Weather Service.

Meanwhile, Bryce Canyon had a record low of 11 degrees on Sunday.

The weekend storm also felled branches and caused some minor power outages. Rocky Mountain Power spokesman Jeff Hymas said Sunday that the utility company had responded to a handful of power outages related to the storm. At midday only a few dozen customers were still without power, he said.

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Contributing: Arthur Raymond

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E-MAIL: afalk@desnews.com