Freaky weather event today. I am not sure if this is normal for this time of year. Serious winds in the canyons and it is very interesting, at least to me, that this event followed a couple of days of inversion. The valley is definitely being cleaned out by the winds. North of Salt Lake City, the canyons near Bountiful are clocking 93 mph winds (hurricane force) and in Centerville, 96 mph gusts. The wind speeds are definitely increasing as the day goes on. Semis have been toppled over. Travel in and out of any of the canyons is either being discouraged or shut down completely. Running the trains has become very dangerous in certain areas and the Frontrunner trains are stalled between Layton and Woods cross. For now, TRAX is still functioning. UDOT will try to rescue the passengers on the Frontrunners but buses would not be a good idea as they are high-profile vehicles and will have the same problems with the winds as the semis. Transformers have been blown out and approximately 12,000 homes and businesses are without power. Debris is slamming into vehicles and homes. Many of the descriptions by the various newspeople sounds very much like a Category 2 hurricane but with snow instead of rain. Amazingly, school has not been cancelled or delayed. If I had a school-aged child, there is no way that I would allow them to ride a bus to school, especially since authorities are recommending that EVERYONE stay off of the interstates and out of the canyons.
UPDATE: Centerville Schools announced that they are indeed closed for today. Somebody came to their senses.
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