The traction law on the Snowbasin and Powder Mountain roads.
When UDOT, the Highway Patrol or the local police put the traction law in effect, an all-wheel or four-wheel drive vehicle needs M+S tires on all four wheels, and a two-wheel drive vehicle needs three-peak snowflake tires on all four or chains on the two drive wheels. It can go into effect up to 24 hours before a storm, and the signs at the bottom of SR-226 and SR-158 are how you'll know.
How-to · Checked September 29, 2026 · 2 min read · The Fresh Tracks crew
What the law asks for
UDOT's Ogden Valley page puts it in two lines. If you drive an all-wheel or four-wheel drive vehicle, you need M+S (or M/S) tires on all wheels; chains, snow socks or three-peak-mountain-snowflake tires also satisfy it. If you drive a two-wheel drive vehicle, you need three-peak snowflake tires on all wheels, or chains or snow socks on the two drive wheels.
The M+S mark is molded into the sidewall of most all-season tires. The three-peak snowflake is a separate symbol, a mountain with a snowflake inside it, and it means the tire passed a snow traction test; an all-season tire without it does not count for a two-wheel drive car when the law is in effect. Check your sidewalls in the driveway in October, not at the bottom of the hill in a storm.
When it's in effect
The law is not a season. UDOT, the Utah Highway Patrol or local law enforcement put it in effect for a road when the conditions call for it, and they can do it up to 24 hours before a storm begins. The announcement comes through the signs on the road and UDOT's traveler information. The rule behind it is Utah Administrative Rule R920-6.
For Ogden Valley that means SR-226, the Snowbasin road off Trappers Loop, and SR-158, the Powder Mountain road out of Eden, plus SR-39 through Ogden Canyon and SR-167 over Trappers Loop. SR-158 also closes for avalanche mitigation; UDOT counts seven slide paths along it, and a closure there is a wait, not a detour.
The other Ogden Canyon rule
Since last year, vehicles longer than 50 feet are not allowed in Ogden Canyon between the canyon mouth and Pineview Dam, because the curves force them over the center line. The way around for a long rig is I-84 through Weber Canyon and up SR-167. UDOT's Ogden Valley site keeps the current list of closures and restrictions, and its road information page links the cameras on every one of these roads.
What we'd do
Put winter tires with the snowflake on a two-wheel drive car and forget about chains. Put M+S all-seasons or better on an all-wheel drive and carry chains anyway for the days the sign says so. Look at the cameras before you leave the house; the conditions page for Ogden Valley roads on this site links every one of them.
What this does to your vehicle.
Winter roads to the resorts are treated with salt and brine, and the brine dries on the lower panels as a white film that keeps pulling moisture from the air. It gets into the wheel wells, the brake components and every seam under the vehicle, and it stays until it's rinsed off. Chains chew up plastic wheel-well liners if they're the wrong size or loose. Inside, the melt off boots and skis carries the same salt into the carpet, where it dries into pale rings. A rinse of the underbody after a storm cycle and a wet extraction of the mats in spring undo most of it.
Sources
- UDOT Ogden Valley, the traction law, read September 29, 2026
- UDOT Ogden Valley, road information and cameras, read September 29, 2026
- UDOT Ogden Valley, road closures and restrictions, read September 29, 2026
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