SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Mar. 31, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Utah water officials say the current winter onslaught has been a godsend for the state’s ongoing drought.
“What a difference two years and one never-ending winter can make,” the Utah Division of Water Resources exclaims in a Thursday post on its Facebook page.
Putting the message in simple map form, the division displays a March 2021 drought intensity map alongside a March 2023 drought intensity map.
The intensity scale moves from the mildest category “abnormally dry” on up to, in order, moderate, severe, extreme, and exceptional, the worst level, describing drying reservoirs and water emergencies. (You can read about the intensity categories of drought here on the U.S. Drought Monitor site: http://bit.ly/415MSwr).
The 2021 map depicts easily half of Utah under the exceptional category, and virtually all of the rest of the state covered by the extreme designation.
Both are absent from the 2023 map. “Clearly, we’ve come a long way, but many reservoir levels are still low and there’s a lot to do to become more drought resilient as a state,” the DWR says. “As our division works hard to plan for a healthy water future, we want to remind you that your conservation efforts play a ‘huge’ role in that, and we thank you. Keep it up!”
In its latest Utah drought update, the Utah Department of Natural Resources, the water resources division’s parent agency, wrote on its website that in February Utah’s snowpack was already at record levels.
The only years that have had more snow at the beginning of February were 1984 and 1997, said the DNR, which guarantees an above-normal snowpack for the year. “Every additional inch of snow will push the state farther above normal.”
“This is our opportunity year!” Candice Hasenyager, director of the Division of Water Resources, said in the Feb. 21 drought update. “In order to take full advantage of our plentiful snowpack, we must continue to use our water wisely.”
