Utah forecast: Mother's Day marked by gray skies, snow

Wintry weather made for a messy Mother's Day in Central Utah, and a darkened one farther south.

Beginning around 6:30 a.m., snow turned the stretch of Interstate 15 from Beaver to the bottom of Millard County into a slippery, slow drive on Sunday. By 3 p.m., flakes were still falling and the Utah Highway Patrol had responded to 21 crashes and 19 slide-offs, said UHP Sgt. Mary Kaye Lucas. No serious injuries were reported.

"What initially started a problem is that, just north of Beaver, we have a big hill going northbound, and there was so much snow nobody could get up the hill," Lucas said. As a couple of semi-trucks rolled over, crashes mounted and some idling semi-trucks even ran out of gas, I-15 came to a near stand-still around northern Beaver County.

"They tell me it's getting better now, but it's only because it's warming up a little bit," Lucas said at about 3:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, about 6,700 homes and businesses in Cedar City lost power as the storm rolled through and dumped 6 inches of snow by 7 a.m. Sunday, according to Rocky Mountain Power. Crews had restored power to all but 2,100 customers by 3:30 p.m., but did not know how long it would take to finish repairs.

About 1,600 customers had also been affected in Panguitch, New Harmony and Kanarraville, according to the power company. Their power was restored by noon.

Canyonlands National Park received 2 inches of rain from about 1 p.m. Saturday through 1 p.m. Sunday, making many of its unpaved roads impassable.

Snow was expected to fall through much of the day Sunday in areas above 5,500 feet as well, according to the weather service. Highs were expected to reach the mid 50s along the Wasatch Front and mid 60s in St. George.

mmcfall@sltrib.com

Twitter: @mikeypanda