June 1st Climate and Water Report for Utah
Current Valley Conditions (SCAN)
Unfortunately, a dry April was followed by an even drier May, with an average of 0.3 inches of precipitation accumulated in Utah’s valley locations. So far in the 2021 water year, 3.9 inches of precipitation has accumulated on average at Utah’s SCAN sites. Southwestern Utah has consistently fared the worst and subsequently soil moisture values are very low—below levels we’ve previously seen in 10 years of measurement. Soil temperatures across the state, while moderate most of May, increased rapidly at the end of the month. Drought conditions remained largely unchanged during May, with the entire state continuing to experience Moderate (D1) to Exceptional (D4) drought. The portion of Utah persisting in Exceptional Drought remains at a very discouraging 62%.
Current Mountain Conditions (SNOTEL)
This has been a tough year so far to be an optimist. Each month we have been hoping for Utah’s mountain precipitation to catch up a bit, but almost every month this water year has had below average rain and snow. Unfortunately, May continued the trend. Last month’s accumulated precipitation was only 42% of normal, bringing the water-year-to-date accumulation to 66%. We are now entering the climatologically driest portion of the year, so abundant additional supply is unlikely to be delivered by mother nature over the next couple months. Statewide soil moisture is at 64% of normal, and soil temperatures are generally well above average. Utah’s reservoir storage has been trending about 15% lower than last year for months until now. Normally, this is the time of year when reservoir levels rebound due to melting snow. However, the lack of a significant runoff response from this winter’s snowpack has greatly diminished the ability for our reservoirs to replenish their supply. Statewide storage is currently at 66% of capacity, which is actually 3% LOWER than last month and 23% lower than last year at this time. These water supply conditions are causing Utah’s current Water Availability Indices (WAIs) to drop to historically-low levels for 10 of Utah’s 18 major basins, with several others at extremely low levels.