Snowy winds whip through Southern Utah, leaving wake of damage, power outages

Written by Chris Reed
February 22, 2023

ST. GEORGE — High winds and a trace of snowflakes in the St. George area have also been marked by power outages and fallen trees on Wednesday.

Snow covers the ground in LaVerkin, Utah, Feb. 22, 2023 | Photo by Ron Chaffin, St. George News

The largest power outage affected around 1,700 customers in LaVerkin for 30 minutes to an hour Wednesday morning. Rocky Mountain Power also reported outages for dozens in Cedar City and in the area between New Harmony and Enterprise.

The electricity provider said outages are to be expected with the weather and they are working to keep up with them. 

“Rocky Mountain Power line crews continue their work restoring service to customers across our service territory as a persistent winter storm brought heavy wet snow to the area,” Rocky Mountain Power said in a statement. “It will take time to assess damage, make repairs and restore power due to the extent of the damage. Some customers may experience multiple outages or extended outages.”

According to a Tweet posted by Zion National Park, the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway (road from South Entrance to East Entrance) and Kolob Canyons Road were closed Wednesday morning due to snow and ice. National Park Service maintenance staff are clearing roads.

High winds overnight in St. George knocked down at least one tree. The tree fell in the Bloomington Hills area. The tree fell upon a rock in the yard with no other apparent damage.

“The tree came down sometime last night. It was very windy,” homeowner Greg Starks said in an e-mail to St. George News. “We didn’t hear it but noticed it this morning when it was light.”

Starks said he has called a tree service to remove it. A St. George City spokesman told St. George News the responsibility for removing a fallen tree comes down to where it falls.

“As I understand it, it is the homeowner’s responsibility unless it’s in the city right of way,” St. George city spokesperson David Cordero said. 

According to the National Weather Service, the highest sustained wind speed at St. George Regional Airport was 51 mph with gusts to 63 mph around 1:10 a.m.

Snow and winds over St. George, Utah, as seen from Pioneer Park, Feb. 22, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St/. George News

As for the snowflakes, it was spotty around St. George with some areas, especially Washington City, getting a good dusting that stuck to the ground with other areas getting little to none. The weather service said overall, the St. George area got 0.04 inches of snow through 9 a.m. with precipitation seeming to wear off by 9:30 a.m.

Further north, Cedar City was still seeing heavy snow as of 10 a.m. and received a little under an inch of new snow overnight.

The heavier snow in St. George is expected on Thursday, according to the weather service and the windy conditions are also expected to return.

Winter Storm Olive is causing issues in several states; though, after several flight cancellations yesterday, there were no cancellations at St. George Regional Airport Wednesday at the time of this report. Travelers are still urged to check with their airline before heading to the airport.

Updated Feb. 22, 12:13 p.m. to include information about the closed highway.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Reed serves as a reporter for St. George News, where he has been honored with several awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for his work, including first-place accolades. He started his journalism career as a sports reporter and editor in Southern California where he once compared shoe sizes with Shaquille O'Neal and exchanged mix tapes with members of the Los Angeles Kings. After growing up in the San Fernando Valley learning karate skills from Mr. Miyagi and spending a decade in Las Vegas mostly avoiding the casinos, he came to St. George for love and married his soulmate, a lifetime Southern Utah resident. He is the proud father of two boys, his youngest a champion against both autism and Type 1 diabetes.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGNews

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