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The aftermath of a mudslide that temporarily closed a portion of Spanish Fork Canyon on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, is shown Wednesday, April 2.

Courtesy Wyatt Woolley, UDOT

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The aftermath of a mudslide that temporarily closed a portion of Spanish Fork Canyon on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, is shown Wednesday, April 2.

Courtesy Wyatt Woolley, UDOT

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This screen grab shows a mudslide that temporarily closed a portion of Spanish Fork Canyon on Tuesday, April 1, 2025.

Courtesy Wyatt Wolley, UDOT

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Utah County’s first recorded mudslide of the year occurred in Spanish Fork Canyon on Tuesday night, temporarily closing both sides of the roadway at mile post 193.

Though no vehicles or persons were damaged, the incident offers a warning sign to canyon commuters as the weather continues to warm.

There’s always a potential for mudslides this time of year, said Utah Department of Transportation Region 3 Senior Communications Director Wyatt Woolley, due to warming water and melting snow, and Spanish Fork Canyon is partially vulnerable due to its many natural springs along the mountainside.

“There was actually a spring where this occurred as well,” Woolley said. “So the combination of that and the extra snow and all the thawing and everything can contribute to sloughing off and mudslides potentially happening.”

UDOT has identified other areas in the canyon where the terrain appears vulnerable for mudslides and is putting up barriers and digging ditches to mitigate the threat. However, it’s impossible to prevent all of them, Wooley said, so the suggestion to drivers is to stay vigilant on the roadway.

“No. 1 rule, I would say, is you need to follow the speed limit, and you need to stay off your phone and pay attention,” he said. “If you’re following the speed limit and you’re paying attention, you’ll be able to react in time when you see a giant rock or a mudslide in front of you. If you’re going too fast and you’re not paying attention, you may not see it in time, and you may hit it or turn into oncoming traffic. So to avoid those terrible situations that can potentially happen, it’s good to drive the speed limit and pay attention.”

Mudslides can occur in any canyon, Woolley said, though to his knowledge Spanish Fork Canyon is the only canyon where UDOT has identified specific areas of concern.

Mudslides have a history in the area, as recently as last June when major rain caused a mudslide that closed Diamond Fork Road. In 2023, a portion of U.S. Highway 6 in Price Canyon was wiped out by a landslide and flooding.

Most significantly was the Thistle landslide in 1983, which reached 1,000 feet in width and over a mile in length, forming a 220-foot-high dam on the Spanish Fork River, according to the Utah Geology Survey.