“If we want to put water in the Great Salt Lake and not just upstream reservoirs, we’re going to need multiple winters like this.” “We have to think holistically,” Clayton said. Snow scientists and water managers keep repeating a mantra, however - one good winter is not enough to rescue Utah from its drought. To get a really good, wet year like this to refill reservoirs and recharge aquifers is just phenomenal.” “Our reservoirs are low, we’ve seen our groundwater aquifers drop. “Our systems are in a deficit,” said Zach Renstrom, general manager of the Washington County Water Conservancy District. Water managers are busy preparing for this spring’s deluge. Soil moisture in the state is high, which means more runoff will make it to rivers and reservoirs instead of getting sucked up by a parched landscape. “We ended last year’s snowpack at about 86% of normal,” Clayton said. The seemingly nonstop snow storms will provide communities some much-needed relief this spring after years of crippling drought. Natural Resources Conservation Service Utah Snow Survey. The Raft watershed in the northwest corner of the state, which drains into the Snake River, has the lowest snow totals at 126% of normal. Southeastern Utah sits at a gigantic 270% of normal. Most of the drainages in southern Utah have at least double the snow they’d typically see this time of year.
And all the state’s watersheds are getting buried.Īreas within the Great Salt Lake’s basin sit between 159% and 231% of normal. Snow totals statewide currently sit at 192% of normal. “It’s really, across the board, a record-breaking winter, and it doesn’t show any signs of letting up.” “It’s going to be a lot higher than that number now” after recent storms, Clayton said. As of last week, about 15 of Utah’s SNOTEL stations measured their own local record-high snowpacks since installation. The state’s snowpack busted through its first record this year on March 13, when it bested the previous snow water equivalent max for that date. “We have some historical data that go back into the 1940s,” Clayton said, which his team is reviewing. Those stations regularly beam information on snow depths, snow density, soil moisture and temperature.Ĭlayton noted the uncharted amount of snowpack we’ll see this week is only applicable to the era since SNOTEL sites were installed starting in 1980. Natural Resources Conservation Service, which has installed SNOTEL sites across Utah and other Western states. “It is amazing, and it’s kind of cool to be here to witness it,” said Jordan Clayton, supervisor of the Utah Snow Survey.
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