Experts say recent heavy rains are good for the state but won’t immediately help Utah’s wanning water supply.
Utah Snow Survey supervisor Jordan Clayton says the winter’s record low snow fall is behind the state’s concerning water levels.
“Based on Aug. 1, the majority of Utah’s basins were in around the 20th percentile or below for water availability, with several in the bottom 5th percentile,” Clayton said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Aug. 24. “There’s a bunch of areas in the state where we haven’t seen conditions like this 95% of the time or worse.”
Water levels in the Wasatch Back are low but still better than others across the state.
Clayton says Thaynes Canyon saw less than 50% of normal August precipitation and East Canyon Creek near Jeremy Ranch is at about 57% of normal. Rockport Reservoir is at roughly 40% capacity, down from an average of 87%.
Clayton says the snowpack has fluctuated dramatically over the past 15 years.
“It’s been pretty extreme,” Clayton said. “Where 2023 set records for the state snowpack-wise, and last winter we also set records for the state snowpack-wise in the opposite direction, and a lot of back and forth in between. So, it’s hard to manage when you get these back-and-forth winters like this.”
Despite this year’s low water levels, Clayton says the summer’s monsoonal events could benefit snowmelt next year.
“They put a lot of water up in our mountains in the ground,” he said. “And when we have moist soils, that helps when we do ultimately get snowmelt the following spring that helps a larger proportion of that snowmelt make it efficiently downstream.”
Clayton says he’s cautiously optimistic about the upcoming El Nino forecast even though heavy snow is not guaranteed.
