IRON COUNTY – Hazardous driving conditions Monday have forced the closures of schools throughout Iron County for the first time in six decades.
Both Southern Utah University and Iron County schools have canceled all classes, according to a Cedar Communications update.
“Unless you have to travel,” the Cedar Communications posted on its Facebook page, “do not put yourself in danger by driving in these conditions.”
Despite Iron County typically being a snowy place in winter, it’s been more than 60 years since the Iron County School District has canceled school due to a “snow day,” Jennifer Wood, director of secondary education for Iron County School District, told St. George News last February.
“We don’t have snow days here,” Wood said. “If the buses are able to travel, we have school. As long as I’ve been in the district – this is my 11th year – we haven’t had a snow day.”
Last year, Wood said the Iron County School District had 61 years without a snow day that the district could verify.
The Cedar Communications page also posted an “urgent message” late Sunday night about Interstate 15 travel, advising motorists not to travel on the freeway north- or southbound from Cedar City unless absolutely necessary, stating roads were “extremely snow-packed and slick” and that Utah Highway Patrol troopers were going from slide-off to slide-off.
On Sunday, there were at least 20 reported crashes and 60 slide-offs near Cedar City, according to UHP Trooper Lawrence Hopper.
As this report is published, according to the Utah Department of Transportation Traffic Operations Center, in Iron County:
- State Route 143 is closed in both directions from Brian Head to Mammoth Creek
- No semitractor-trailers are allowed on state Route 14
- Chains are required for all vehicles on state Route 20
Resources
- Motorists may call Utah Department of Transportation’s “511” for the latest road conditions
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