High elevation Labor Day snow brings early glimpse of winter

Around the 10,000-foot mark, a thin layer of snow covered some of the mountain peaks in northern Utah on Labor Day morning.

Traffic cameras showed snow accumulated through the morning in several areas, and nearby ski resorts shared photos of white terrain.

National Weather Service Utah senior hydrologist Christina Kruse said it’s typical this time of year to see the first snowflakes high in the mountains.

“For high elevation snow, typically we see our first snow somewhere between late August and late September,” she said. “It really varies on the year, but it's not incredibly unusual to see a little bit of snow Labor Day weekend up in those highest elevations.”

She also said it doesn’t tell a whole lot about what kind of snowfall to expect as winter arrives.

“A lot of people want to know, if we see snow Labor Day weekend, does that mean we'll have another big winter?” she said. “Unfortunately, there's no real correlation. We're gonna have to see what happens as we move into winter — how the storm cycle sets up. We are going into an El Niño pattern; you can make some type of prediction based on being in an El Niño cycle. So, it's kind of a wait-and-see right now to see what happens in October and November to see what we set up for our winter season here.”

She said warmer weather is in the forecast for the next week and expects little to no moisture in the Wasatch Back.

The moisture made for muddy conditions on the slopes. Deer Valley closed biking access for the day, and Park City Mountain delayed activities but eventually showed trails were open on its website.

Solitude Mountain Resort said the last time snow fell there was 118 days prior. Monday also marked 74 days until Park City Mountain expects to open the ski season.

Along with record-setting snow, Utahns recall last winter for bringing some of the most weather events and road closures in recent memory.

Drivers just north of Helper found another reminder of it Monday with a mudslide blocking the road. U.S. Highway 6 closed between Castle Gate and Soldier Summit.

Photos showed the slide swept away large chunks of the road. A message from the Utah Department of Transportation said crews would also need to repair a culvert to prepare the highway for drivers.