Utahns celebrated a series of storms that dumped snow statewide over the weekend.
The state still has a ways to go to reach a normal snowpack for this time of year, however, and is nowhere on track to have the record-breaking winter seen last year. A flurry of storms forecasted in the days ahead, however, could bump snowpack in certain basins to depths typical for January.
Data beamed in from the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service’s SNOTEL sites — weather stations across the state that collect snow data — show Utah’s snowpack combined is at 73% of median. None of Utah’s hydrologic basins have snow totals near or above average except the Raft River Mountains, which mostly drain into the Snake River and will do little to relieve the state’s water shortages.
Utah's snowpack as of Jan. 7, 2023.
In the Great Salt Lake’s watershed, the Bear River basin and Weber-Ogden basin have the highest snowpack, at 84% and 80% of median, respectively — about the same as before the weekend’s snowstorms. Storms over the last few days bumped the Jordan River and Tooele basins into just over 70% of median.
The northeastern Uintas snowpack inched up slightly, from 63% on Friday to 66% by the end of day Sunday.
One bright spot for the Great Salt Lake remains reservoirs.
Reservoirs in Utah, apart from Lake Powell, are looking good for early January.
Statewide, they are 79% full, excluding Lake Powell and Flaming Gorge, which Utahns don’t really use apart from recreation. At this time last year, reservoirs sat at 46% full and in a typical year, they are 58% full. That means when warmer temperatures roll around, it will take less water to top off reservoirs, so more will flow downhill to reach the Great Salt Lake.
Meanwhile, the National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings and advisories for much of northern Utah, starting at around 8 a.m. Tuesday and ending at 5 a.m. Thursday in most areas.
Basins in southern Utah remain at 70% median snowpack or less. Weekend storms did give parts of the southeast a boost, including the Dirty Devil basin. They went from 59% of median on Friday to 70% by Sunday. Southwest Utah, including the St. George area and the Escalante-Paria basin, remains parched. They started the weekend with snowpack at 41% and 45% of median respectively, but remain in the red at 46% and 48%.
As of last week, the entire Upper Colorado River Basin’s snowpack sat at 65% of normal. Lake Powell was 36% full.