SOUTH SALT LAKE -- Esther Williams was sitting on the edge of her bed when the storm arrived Tuesday morning.
"At first I could hear a rumbling sound. I thought it was going to be a thunderstorm," said Williams, who has lived in her home for about 30 of her 78 years."Then there was a really funny crackling sound like something was breaking. Then there was a big boom!"
Whipped by the wind, her huge willow tree crashed onto the roof, knocking a hole into the attic and a making "a big hole on one side of the house," she said. Tree limbs and leaves covered her back yard.
Williams' falling tree was the most spectacular damage reported from a storm that whipped strong gusts throughout the state and knocked out electrical power in St. George.
"We had lots of wind yesterday," said William J. Alder, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service regional office in Salt Lake City. Gusts reached 38 mph at the Salt Lake Airport, 50 in Provo, 61 in Moab, 50 in Milford, 58 in Bluffdale, 21 in Payson and 60 in Vernon, Tooele County.
A weather station at Mount Baldy recorded 55 mph, while wind speeds reached 71 on Signal Peak near Milford. Antelope Island's bison probably shrugged off the 53-mph winds that ruffled their fur.
Thousands of residents of St. George, Santa Clara and surrounding neighborhoods were without electricity from 3:56 p.m. until 6:05 p.m. when wind caused a 345,000-volt power line to trip out of service.
"We didn't find any physical trouble," said David Eskelsen, spokesman for Utah Power. The delay in returning power was to give linemen time to patrol the stretch for trouble like downed trees.
Meanwhile, light rainfall blew through the state, with Cedar City soaking up the most at 0.29 of an inch. Three-eighth-inch hail rattled onto cars in Layton, and 4 inches of snow fell on ski resorts in Big and Little Cottonwood canyons. A snow advisory continued in the mountains through Wednesday.
You can reach Joe Bauman by e-mail at bau@desnews.com