Utah is known for going from nice, sunny weather, to stormy and snowy weather the next day. Even though the ground hog showed that there would be no early spring this year, Utah residents were not expecting the snowstorm that quickly hit the state in the last week of February.
During this time of year the transition from winter to spring begins. Summer fever falls upon everyone. Spring sports seasons, such as softball, track and field and golf, soon begin.
While the excitement of the increase in warmth approached this year, Mother Nature wasn’t on the same wavelength. A snowstorm which seemed to have been bottled up for days rolled over on Tuesday night and let loose over Utah. A foot or more of snow was found over the roads. Yet this was just the beginning. Throughout the night and into Wednesday morning the snow kept coming.
The storm left so much snow that many schools in northern Utah were canceled for the day. Some businesses told their employees to stay home and didn’t open for the day. Sources say that some areas like Salt Lake Valley received 4-9 inches of snow by the end of Wednesday.
For the schools in region 20, school wasn’t canceled and attendance was still expected. While these students didn’t get to have a day off, the water conversationists rejoiced at the snowpack. For some time many counties in central Utah, if not most of Utah, have been struggling with a drought year. Snowpack from the mountains is one of the biggest resources of water, and last winter did not provide much snow. The smaller towns and communities such as Piute, Wayne, Sevier and Garfield counties have been praying for more moisture since their lakes have been slowly draining. The snowstorm will provide these counties with more water to give to farmers and the towns overall.
While a snowstorm means bad roads and a very cold breeze for a few days, the state truly needed the snowfall.
– by Ari Hurdsman (18) Junction
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Feature image caption: Tooele school buses buried in snow. Courtesy ksl.
Ari Hurdsman – Junction
Ari Hurdsman is a junior journalist at the Byway. She just recently moved to Ephraim, Utah, where she is a freshman at Snow College. She enjoys writing about Piute sports, and she’s really good at it! In her free time, she enjoys singing, dancing, reading and hanging out with friends and family.