OGDEN — After a season of record snowfall, Northern Utah is forecast to have something a little more mundane.

Glen Merril, hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City, told the Standard-Examiner that much of the state is behind on the current water year, which began Oct. 1.

“In this current water year, only the Northern Utah mountains have seen near- or slightly above-normal precipitation and snowfall,” he said. “The rest of the state is either below or well below where we need to be.”

He said the the seasonal forecast for January-March isn’t quite showing any records.

“There’s just a very slight tip to above-normal precipitation in the state of Utah,” he said. “It’s only up to a 40% chance of being slightly above normal with about a 33% chance of being near normal.”

Merril said this is a shift from what occurred last year.

“Last year was obviously a record-breaking snowfall and winter snowpack season,” he said. “It broke all records dating back to the mid-1930s. It’s the largest known winter on record. The chances of seeing that again are extremely minimal — about 1% or less. Last year at this time, we had more snow in our mountains. We had received more precipitation, and then the months of December, January, February and especially March were just banner months. … This year we are well behind that.”

Just because the region is behind at this point doesn’t mean there won’t be sufficient precipitation in the area.

“It’s important to realize our three wettest months, typically, are yet to come,” Merril said. “Even though most areas of the state are below normal right now, we’re just going to have to see how the patters set up in the months to come. We still have a long ways to go to build our snowpack, which is what we really need. We get 90%-95% of our water supply here in Utah from building that snowpack, keeping it in a savings account and bringing it down in the spring and early summer.”

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