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Cold and snowy weather is back in the Wasatch Mountains after Utah hit record-low snowpack around New Year’s.
But the unseasonably warm December was a reminder that Utah’s climate is changing. The snowpack remains below normal.
Scientists and researchers say climate change will bring more and more “feast or famine” snow conditions.
For Assistant State Climatologist Jon Meyer and his colleagues at the Utah Climate Center, that famine has long been hypothetical. But not anymore.
“It's something that we've talked about as climate scientists for quite some time, longer than I've been a professional in this industry, and so to see it play out is certainly disconcerting,” Meyer told KPCW in an interview Jan. 5. “It's always been sort of down the road as an expected outcome and impact that we're anticipating.”
Meyer said climate change makes for fewer and fewer “normal” years.
“And that has led to, just in the last 10 years, where we've had the worst snowpack conditions in recorded history, and some of the best snowpack conditions commingled right next to each other from year to year,” he explained.
He added that it’s becoming more difficult to predict when the snow will fall, which is bad for two of Utah’s major economic drivers: agriculture and outdoor recreation.
A 2021 Utah State University study found it’s getting hotter at every single ski resort in the state. Many are averaging about 9 degrees Fahrenheit warmer in the winter now compared to 1980.
Meyer calls it an “erosion” of the ski season, where snow is falling later and melting sooner.
The Alta Environmental Center says the Little Cottonwood Canyon ski resort, where it’s based, only had about 15 days between late October and Christmas where it was cold and dry enough to blow machine-made snow.
Speaking on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” just before Christmas, newly reelected Park City Councilmember Tana Toly said the community was in “crisis mode” with tourists on the way, but no snow.
“We don't have a playbook for that,” she said Dec. 22. “For the next four years, these are the kinds of things that — we need to be nimble and we need to be able to look at our economy and say, ‘How do we diversify, and how do we ensure that we remain this world-class destination?’”
Utah as a whole is committed to winter sports. Deer Valley Resort more than doubled its skiable acreage over summer, and the state is preparing to host the 2034 Winter Olympics.
The Deseret News reported in April that state officials want a sustainable Games that demonstrate the long-term viability of winter sports in Utah.
“A year like this would be absolutely devastating to that kind of an event, and the economy and finances that the state would benefit from,” Meyer said.
Local officials are also keen to see how the Olympics can benefit the Wasatch Back. But for Toly, it’s also about the next 10, 20 or 30 years after that.
“Nature is what we do here, and we want to preserve this for my nieces and nephews and for all of the families and the community,” Toly said.
The Washington Post reported in 2024 that scientists now predict one in eight ski areas will lose all natural snow cover by the end of this century, if the global average temperature continues rising.
The researchers looked at the European Alps, Andes Mountains, Appalachian Mountains, Australian Alps, Japanese Alps, New Zealand’s Southern Alps and Rocky Mountains, including Utah.
