Utah water officials were hopeful that consistent wet weather would help bolster the snowpack for the spring, but a dry January has eroded that optimism.

December storms helped build Utah’s snowpack, which creates 95% of the state’s water supply, after an inconsistent year, but officials said a stagnant period since has once again put the state in a tough spot.

“We haven’t gotten any snow at all. Everything sort of just flatlined, unfortunately. Our snowpack is almost exactly what it was five weeks ago,” said Laura Haskell, a drought expert with the Utah Division of Water Resources.

Last water year, which ran from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, the snowpack peaked at around 81% of average, according to Haskell. When the snowpack melted, factors such as below-average precipitation and a dry summer caused the water to saturate the soil rather than refill bodies of water — leading to an exceptional drought throughout the state.

There was slightly more precipitation than normal in the fall, which gave officials hope. Haskell said precipitation in October was around 197% of average, but November bottomed out to 38% of normal.

Statewide precipitation was 206% of normal in December, according to data from the Natural Resources Conservation Service Utah Snow Survey, as the state received a series of snowstorms that helped alleviate November’s shortcomings.

In mid-January, the snowpack was 121% of the median, or 56% of what officials wanted to see for the whole year. But the most recent data shows the dry month dropped the snowpack to 89% of the median. The statewide snow water equivalent, or how much water there would be if the snowpack melted, is 9 inches.

Above-average snowstorms are now needed to get the snowpack back on track before it peaks, usually during the first week of April. The National Weather Service in Salt Lake City initially predicted two weather systems that might impact the state Tuesday into Wednesday and Wednesday into Thursday but later reported the cold front would bring unimpressive precipitation.

Haskell said that typically in mid-February there are snowy, frozen conditions that help keep the snowpack intact but as the weather warms up, it dries out. Each day the snow melts before it should, that water is lost.

“That is not good news. We want that snowpack to last. The longer it lasts the more effective it is and the more we can keep in our streams and reservoirs,” Haskell said. “We have what we want it to be for April 1 so we have less time to get that amount now.”

Utah reservoirs are still seeing lower-than-average capacity although it has slightly improved from January. Last month 35 of the largest 45 reservoirs were below 55%. Now, only 32 are, according to the Utah Division of Water Resources.

The numbers are still lower than normal for this time of year, with reservoirs cumulatively around 53% of capacity statewide compared to 62% last year, but Haskell said the disparity could be because of how much water was used last year due to the drought. The Rockport Reservoir, where Park City gets a large supply of its water, is at just over 50% of capacity when it should be around 58% for this time of year.

“We do want those to refill because we can’t keep drawing on that indefinitely,” Haskell said. And without as many winter storms as normal, the groundwater isn’t being recharged.

She urges Utahns to be aware of their water use moving forward because the snowpack hasn’t been what officials had hoped for, and officials are beginning to become concerned about water this summer — when dry weather is typical.

Individuals are asked to consider several water-saving initiatives like limiting outdoor watering, only doing laundry when there’s a full load and fixing leaky sinks or toilets. Haskell also suggested that it’s a good time for homeowners to consider changing their landscapes to more drought-tolerant yards that require less watering.

“We’re watching it. We’re not as happy with where we’d hoped the snowpack would be. So we’re just going to have to be careful on our water use this summer,” she said. “We wish it were better news.”

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