Firefighters stand in front of a crashed semi truck in Sardine Canyon near Dry Lake on Tuesday. Sardine Canyon was closed for two hours Tuesday after emergency officials responded to a semi truck rollover due to high wind in the area.



By Matthew K. Jensen
staff writer

Sardine Canyon was closed Tuesday for two hours after emergency officials responded to a semi truck rollover due to high wind near the Dry Lake area.

The canyon was closed in both directions to tall, high profile vehicles and closed to all traffic in southbound lanes because of the toppled semi blocking the lanes.

Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Lee Perry said the empty semi was traveling southbound on U.S. Highway 89/91 when at about 1:13 p.m., it rolled onto its side and slid down the highway about 100 feet near mile marker 11.

“We’re having excessive wind gusts coming through right now,” he said from the scene Tuesday. “The trailer was hit by a gust of wind and it sent the truck over on its side.”

Perry says the truck blocked both lanes of southbound travel, the center median and the inside northbound lane.

The driver, of S and S Trucking, was evaluated by on-scene paramedics and released shortly after. He did not suffer any significant injuries. HAZMAT crews also responded to clean a petroleum leak at the site of the rollover.

One weather expert said Wednesday’s windy conditions were caused, in part, by a deep low-pressure trough moving into the area.

“Normally when you have a very strong temperature gradient associated with a cold front moving through, winds tend to be quite large,” said Utah Climate Center Meteorologist Marty Booth.

Weather instruments at a station near the site of the crash, close to the border of Cache County and Box Elder County, indicated southerly sustained winds at 32 mph and gusts up to 42 mph at around the time of the incident. At about 1 p.m., Booth added, The Logan-Cache Airport’s automated weather system was reporting wind gusts up to 75 mph.

Booth said the strong cold front that passed over Northern Utah late Tuesday afternoon is associated with the above-normal temperatures that were observed on Sunday and Monday. He said Tuesday’s low temperature was 20 degrees warmer than normal.

The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory for Cache Valley and portions of the northern Wasatch Front for most of Tuesday.