Over 8,000 residents were without electricity at 5 p.m. Saturday as the Salt Lake City area experienced high winds and heavy snowfall, according to Rocky Mountain Power.
Crews are working “around the clock” to restore service as the company experiences “widespread outages,” according to the Rocky Mountain Power website. Rocky Mountain Power spokesperson Tiffany Erickson said the company was prepared for the outage and had crews out in the area on standby as soon as the storm started.
Individuals can report outages by texting “OUT” to 759677, and the company will follow up with additional updates about when customers can expect service to be restore, Erickson added.
“Our meteorologists kind of expected the worst was before 4 p.m.,” Erickson said. “In some places, we might see a little bit of lake effect snow, but other than that we’re definitely moving forward on it. We’re thinking based on what we know that the worst is potentially behind us, but we’re still out there.”
By about 7 p.m., the company reported many outages had been repaired, leaving about 5,000 Salt Lake area residents were without power.
Most of Utah remains under a winter storm warning or wind advisory as of Saturday evening, and Salt Lake City is expected to receive 2-3 inches of snow by Tuesday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
Salt Lake City will remain under a winter storm warning until 5 p.m. Sunday, but periods of snow will continue over the northern portion of the state through Monday, according to the forecast. Northwest winds from 15-25 mph are expected through early Saturday evening.
Residents should prepare for winter driving conditions and consider postponing travel, meteorologists recommend. Authorities also reported many storm-related calls for service on Saturday, and urged individuals to call 911 to report hazards like downed utility lines, according to a social media post on X — formerly known as Twitter — from Salt Lake City police.
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