Utah, 2002Dense Fog in Utah, February 3, 2002
February 3, 2002 · NWS SLC · 1 event in 1 county or zone
1 dense fog, as filed by the National Weather Service.
- Deaths
- 3
- Injuries
- 3
- Property damage
- $500,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Salt Lake City, UT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 3, 8:56 PM MST, 2 hours 4 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Feb 3, 8:56 PM MST, 2 hours 4 minutes before
UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT
856 PM MST SUN FEB 3 2002
.SYNOPSIS...HIGH PRESSURE WILL BE OVER THE AREA THROUGH THE FIRST HALF
OF THE WEEK. A WEAK STORM SYSTEM MOVING ACROSS THE NORTHERN ROCKIES
WILL BRUSH THE NORTHERN PART OF THE AREA TUESDAY NIGHT.
.DISCUSSION...WILL UPDATE SHORTLY TO LOWER SOME TEMPERATURES FOR
TONIGHT. LOGAN ALREADY DOWN TO -8F. DRY UPPER LEVEL FRONT MOVING
ACROSS NORTHERN UTAH. THIS IS THE LEADING EDGE OF SHORTWAVE CENTERED
NEAR KMSO. THIS WAVE WILL MOVE SOUTH ALONG THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE...
MISSING UTAH TO THE EAST.
LOOKS LIKE A QUIET WEEK FOR FINAL OLYMPIC PREPARATIONS. MORE
INTERESTING WEATHER HINTED AT BY LATEST ENSEMBLE RUNS. ENSEMBLE
MEAN HEIGHTS FALL DRAMATICALLY STARTING AROUND VALENTINES DAY...
WHICH COULD BRING A STORMIER PERIOD FOR MID-MONTH.
SLC 0000 CDC 0000 GIBSON
.SLC...NONE.
Dense Fog, C W Box Elder/C W Xe Toole/X W Salt Lake/X Nw Utah
- When
- February 3, 11:00 PM MST to 11:30 PM MST
- Where
- C W Box Elder/C W Xe Toole/X W Salt Lake/X Nw Utah forecast zone
- Deaths
- 3 direct, 0 indirect
- Injuries
- 3 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $500,000
- Reported by
- FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Dense fog caused an 11-vehicle pileup on Interstate 80 between Tooele and Grantsville. There were 3 fatalities and several injuries in an accident that involved 8 semi tractor trailers, 2 passenger cars and a pickup truck. A semi slammed into the rear of another semi that had pulled off the freeway in the dense fog. That initial collision was followed by a chain of vehicles and the remaining semis slamming into each other. The pileup caused 4 of the semis to catch fire. The accident closed I-80 in both directions.
- Dense Fog
- Fog reducing visibility to a quarter mile or less, filed where it caused accidents or disruption.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5324227.