The prospect of more pollution-filled days along the Wasatch Front next week is worrisome.
First, snowpack totals in northern Utah are about half of normal, causing water managers grief.
Second, gunky air forces school principals to weigh whether students should be allowed outdoors for recess.
Finally, a string of gray days doesn't help people who are prone to depression.
"There is no snow storm on the horizon as far as we can see and we forecast five to seven days out," said Brian McInerney, senior service hydrologist for the National Weather Service's Salt Lake City office. "It's grim."
The forecaster said December precipitation in northern Utah, where the majority of the state's ski resorts are located, was 50 to 70 percent of normal. Northern Utah saw only four storms in December, only one of which packed any heft. January has been dominated by high pressure, translating into few storms.
The water outlook is better in southern Utah, where snowpack is anywhere from 100 to 150 percent of normal. While that seems like a typical El Nino pattern, which favors the southern part of the state, McInerney said the pattern has not been typical. The Pacific Northwest has been wetter than normal with Canadian ski areas such as Whistler enjoying record snowfall. That's not your average El Nino.
There's a bright side to colder-than-normal temperatures trapped by valley inversions: not much snow has melted. And there is still time to make up for the season's paltry snowfall, although forecasters and water managers hope it comes soon.
"We need a good storm cycle to be followed by another but it does not look like it is going to happen," said McInerney.
While air quality improved Thursday and is expected to remain good today, recent inversions had school administrators pondering whether to keep kids in from recess. Pollution levels could build quickly if the storm-less weather pattern continues.
"With the recent inversion, we've had some rules in place to make sure we were guiding schools appropriately," said Salt Lake County's Canyons School District spokesman Jeff Hanley. "For the most part, principals use their best judgment. There are guidelines to air quality regulations and, on red burn days, principals consult them. The last thing we want is for kids who really shouldn't be out there to have sensitivity with lungs."
In a newsletter sent home to parents this week, Whittier Elementary School in Salt Lake City said its policy is to allow students who are sensitive to air quality and who have a physician's verification of asthma or respiratory illness remain inside when air pollution reaches a certain level. On days with extreme inversions, all students remain inside, but those days are rare.
Debbie Parr, the school secretary at Whittier, said parents of students with asthma have been concerned.
"We haven't had any children stay in yet but the district has sent us a link to a Web site that we check every morning close to recess at 10 a.m.," she said. "If the air is bad, we give kids options to be inside. We had one day with no recess, but that had as much to do with the cold as with air quality."
As for the psychological implications of gray days, Valley Mental Health clinical psychologist John Malouf said he has seen many weather-related problems.
"Dark days and the cold affects people's mood and motivation," he said.
Malouf tells clients that, when possible, they should get above the smog into the sun and force themselves to exercise. He also urges them to experience life without making critical "editorial comments" about themselves.
