This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2005, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
It's rained all spring, so Mark Ruff has been accustomed to pointing one eye skyward.
Ruff, superintendent of Mountain Dell Golf Course in Parleys Canyon, saw a storm approaching and ordered his ground crews off the course. But Ruff didn't anticipate what would fall from the sky.
"We had a blizzard," Ruff said. "It was pretty nasty."
Snow. In June.
A colder-than-normal Pacific storm sprinkled the state's middle elevations and dumped up to 8 inches of snow in the higher elevations on Tuesday morning. Other parts of central and northern Utah received rain, but there were no significant reports of flooding.
Brandon Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said snow is not typical this time of year.
"This can occasionally happen in early June, though it's not very common," Smith said.
Most of the precipitation began falling after 3 a.m.
A National Weather Service measuring site sitting at 6,800 feet near Farmington recorded 8 inches of snow, he said, and 4 inches fell at 9,600 feet in Alta.
Nordic Valley ski resort recorded 3 inches of snow and the Cache Valley got 1 inch. Smith said Salt Lake City received "a trace of snow."
Slushy snow in Parleys Canyon contributed to a serious traffic accident. A 42-year-old man lost control of his small car, which was struck broadside by a semitrailer truck on Interstate 80. The car was eastbound about 8:30 a.m. when the driver changed lanes.
The car, which was going about 65 mph, went off the road to the right and bounced off a cement barrier, turning crosswise into traffic, where it was hit by the semitrailer, said Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Steve Martin.
The driver of the car, which was demolished, suffered a possible broken ankle and a laceration on his left arm.
Elsewhere in the state, Ogden, Logan and parts of Utah north of Salt Lake City received about an inch of rain or snow. Hail measuring an inch in diameter was reported falling in Salt Lake County near 2100 South 2100 West. Hail was also spotted in Tooele County and Farmington, according to the National Weather Service.
Northern and southern parts of Utah have experienced flooding this spring, but Smith said he doesn't expect Tuesday's precipitation to create new problems.
"It didn't add that much to the snowpack, really, when you consider the snow levels were still fairly high and even the snow that did fall down on the benches [added] relatively little accumulations," Smith said.
It is not expected to rain for the remainder of the workweek in central and southern Utah. Thunderstorms are possible in Salt Lake City and northern Utah to day.