The season's first winter storm - which left two inches of water in some valley locations and five inches of snow at Snowbird by 9 a.m. - may have played a role in a fatal accident in West Valley City.
The storm, which will likely be followed by a bigger and colder storm Sunday and early Monday, moved into the Salt Lake area about midnight, moving south to Provo, Springville and Nephi and leaving pea-size hail in the Sandy area.West Valley police are investigating whether a UTA bus that dropped a 14-year-old girl off at John F. Kennedy Junior High School at 7:10 a.m. may have hit the girl as it pulled back into traffic at 4452 S. 4800 West.
Renee Courtney, 4312 S. 4000 West, was reported dead after being taken to Pioneer Valley Hospital. Her parents live in California, and she told the guardian she lived with that she wanted to get to school early, so she took the UTA bus.
It was raining and still dark when the mother of another student was in the school's parking lot and saw somebody run through the rain past the bus. When the bus pulled away, she saw the girl lying at the edge of the road, said West Valley officer Mark Lorenz.
Lorenz said it has not been confirmed that the bus hit the girl. The woman who saw the bus did not see any other cars before she saw the girl, he said.
In Utah County, foul weather is being blamed for a three-car accident in south Provo about 7:35 a.m. that sent two motorists to the hospital complaining of back and neck pain. Nearby, traffic on I-15 was slowed to a halt when a four-car accident between Provo and Springville left several people with minor injuries, according to the Utah Highway Patrol.
Rain mixed with snow was falling along Wasatch Boulevard in Salt Lake County and other 5,000-foot elevations as of 8 a.m. The snow and rain had tapered off as of 10 a.m., said William J. Alder, meteorologist in charge of the Salt Lake office of the National Weather Service.
Before the storm moved in early Wednesday, an F-16 with the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base was hit by lightning west of the Great Salt Lake Tuesday afternoon, according to information received by the Salt Lake office of the National Weather Service.
"No one was hurt, and there was no damage to the plane, which was not forced to land," said Valerie Chavez, a base spokeswoman.
Numerous electrical outages and several traffic accidents occurred as snow, hail, thunder and lightning hit. The largest power outage affected an area from about 9000 South to 6000 South and from about 2700 West to the Oquirrh Mountains.
"The flow of electricity into the (Hoggard substation at about 5800 West and the New Bingham Highway) was knocked out when a power line feeding that station was struck by lightning. A wire snapped and a pole caught on fire at 6:07 a.m.," said Dave Meade, a Utah Power & Light Co. spokesman.
All power was restored in that area by 8 a.m., with most of it before 8, Meade said.
On the east side of Salt Lake City, electrical outages affected the area near Hogle Zoo, and the University of Utah Research as well as traffic lights along Foothill Drive, Meade said.
Parts of Kaysville were without power for more than an hour early Wednesday. The Midway area of Wasatch County also was without power, according to the Salt Lake office of the National Weather Service.
By Wednesday morning the storm covered an area stretching from Utah County to Heber and Coalville and into the Uintah Basin and the Uinta Mountains.
"The storm is moving south, but it (probably) won't be as strong there as in the north," Alder said.
Alder said precipitation amounts were increased by the convective nature of the storm, with warmer air ahead and colder air behind the front.
Meteorologist Peter Wilensky said the storm should continue off and on through Wednesday evening, leaving slushy-type snow along the bench areas.
The high temperature reading was 57 degrees at midnight at the Salt Lake Airport. Readings Wednesday night should range between 35 degrees to 40 degrees, with high readings Thursday expected to be in the low 50s.
Deseret New staff writers Steve Fidel and Genelle Pugmire contributed to this story.
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(Additional information)
Precipitation as of 9 a.m. Wednesday
Wellsville 2.30
Liberty 1.68
Hyrum 1.60
Ogden 1.30
Richmond 1.21
North Ogden 1.15
Logan 1.10
Brigham City 1.09
Brighton 0.80
Centerville 0.76
Murray .71
Sugar House 0.70
Val Verda 0.68
Farmington 0.67
Mountain Dell 0.60
Salt Lake Airport 0.51
Tooele 0.49
Kearns 0.43
Figures are in inches