Utah’s mountaintops are becoming greener as snow-capped peaks begin to disappear throughout the state, yet the evidence of a historic winter remains even as summer arrives.
There was an average of around 0.4 inches of snow water equivalent remaining in the state as of Tuesday compared to 3 inches at the start of the month, according to data from the Utah Division of Water Resources. Officials expected the rest of the snowpack to completely melt by the end of June with around 0.5 inches of snow water equivalent lost each day.
And all that snowmelt has helped boost Utah’s reservoir storage to a statewide average of around 80% — with sites crucial to the Park City area floating around 100% capacity. This is an increase of 20% compared to mid-June of last year.
The Echo Reservoir was about 98% full this week, while the Rockport Reservoir was around 101% and the Smith and Morehouse Reservoir was at 104% capacity.
All of the state’s major watersheds were also above 120% of normal precipitation as of June 1. The Great Salt Lake has risen around 5 feet since its historic low last winter, making it the highest it’s been since 2019.
“The large increase from last month is due to both the enormous amount of inflow as our historic snowpack has been rapidly melting, and also because many reservoirs had been drawn down last month to make room for all of that water,” stated a water supply outlook for June. “We expect that most of Utah’s reservoirs will fill this summer except for Bear Lake, Strawberry Reservoir, and Sevier Bridge Reservoir.”
Increased soil moisture throughout the state has also ensured the melted snow reaches the reservoirs rather than becoming absorbed by the ground. There were record-breaking soil moisture conditions in May with around 83% saturation across the state.
As of June 1, it decreased to around 79% statewide. However, the total was still 114% of normal, according to the water outlook report. Officials said the saturation level set a new all-time high since the sensors were installed in the early 2000s. Observations still remain in the top 10% of previous recordings despite dropping a bit this month.
Streamflow levels have also remained high. It’s also possible that snowmelt runoff may break previous records for flow volume for the Big Cottonwood Creek, but the report said it’s unlikely elsewhere.
May saw lower than normal levels of precipitation at around 71% of normal, but the excellent water year has overall helped keep the year-to-date value above normal at 140%.
Officials estimated Utah would need around 12 inches of precipitation to get back to typical conditions after several years of drought, but the success of this water year led the deficit to be cut by approximately 75%, reducing the needed precipitation to around 3 inches statewide.
It’s unclear how much the remaining snowpack will benefit the state’s reservoirs. However, the wet season has been crucial to reducing drought conditions across Utah.
Less than 15% of the state is in a moderate drought with around 60% of Utah categorized as abnormally dry, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. None of Utah was reported in a higher ranking while half of the state was in an extreme drought this time last year.