This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Melting snow and persistent rain caused a mudslide in Provo Canyon and continued to plague a sewage system serving much of Cache County on Saturday.
State Route 189 closed about 1:15 a.m. when mud covered lanes heading in both directions, about 1 mile north of State Route 92, according to the Utah Highway Patrol.
"There is mud and debris about 3-feet deep across both lanes of travel," the UHP reported in a news release. "The slide also took out about 100 feet of guardrail on the southbound side."
Less than an hour later, a crew from the Utah Department of Transportation arrived with heavy equipment and began working to get the road open. The lanes heading both directions reopened about 11:45 a.m., UDOT officials said.
The Utah Avalanche Center rated danger for backcountry slides as "high" in the Provo area Saturday, while conditions in Salt Lake and Skyline were "considerable" and conditions in areas near Abajo, Moab, the Uintas, Ogden and Logan were "moderate."
The combination of warm temperatures and rain also continued to strain the Cache Valley sewer system, where officials in Logan continue to urge residents to reduce "unnecessary water" in drains.
Friday night, the city sent out a request for everyone to cut back on showers, flushing toilets, doing laundry and washing dishes after the sewage system was overwhelmed. That system serves Utah State University, Nibley, Providence, River Heights, Logan, North Logan, Hyde Park and Smithfield.
Additionally, the water flooded and damaged homes in Cache County, the city said in a Facebook post Friday night.
Usually the flow into the wastewater treatment plant is 12 to 15 million gallons per day this time of year, the post said, but this week flows have ranged from 35 to 60 million gallons per day. While the rate had decreased from Friday to Saturday, a Saturday evening news release from the county said the flow into the sewage plant remained two to three times higher than normal. A flood advisory remained in effect for much of northern Utah as rain continued to saturate the area, the National Weather Service said, while a winter weather advisory stretched from northeastern Utah through much of central and southern Utah. On Friday, 0.48 inches of precipitation in Salt Lake City set a new record for the date, which had previously been set in 1908 at 0.40 inches.
Precipitation was expected to move southeast through Saturday afternoon and continue through Saturday evening.
Saturday was expected to be mostly cloudy, cool and wet for the Salt Lake valley, with little to no accumulation. Highs were forecast to hit the mid-40s and drop into the upper 20s overnight. Temperatures Sunday were expected to be similar, though the skies were forecast to be sunny.
St. George residents also saw cloudy skies Saturday morning with a chance of rain in the afternoon. Highs were expected to be in the low 60s, with a 30 percent chance of rain in the evening and temperatures cooling down to the low 40s overnight. Sunday was forecast to be partly cloudy with similar temperatures.
For more detailed weather information, visit The Salt Lake Tribune's weather page.
Twitter: @mnoblenews