Marcus Sawchuk of Salt Lake City walk in 11th Avenue Park in Salt Lake City on Thursday, March 30, 2023. (Laura Seitz/Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY— More good news from one of the strongest winters in Utah’s history: according to the latest update from the U.S. Drought Monitor, no area in Utah is in extreme or exceptional drought.
Utah’s drought conditions haven’t been that good since June 2020.
Drought is ranked on a zero through four scale with extreme and exceptional drought at levels three and four respectively.
While most of the state is still in levels one or two, moderate and severe drought, Christine Kruse, lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service said, “This is a significant improvement.”
But, Kruse also said it’s important to be mindful of water use regardless of what the drought conditions are.
“A hot, dry summer, another dry winter and we could be right back in these drought conditions,” Kruse said.
For a time in 2019, Utah had little to no drought conditions, but that changed with just one bad summer and winter.
So, while this is welcome news, we still have work to do there.
“Even though we’ve had a really good snowpack, water conservation and paying attention to your local officials is very important,” Kruse said.
This winter broke the 40-year-old record for the snow-water equivalent in our mountains, as the winter weather keeps coming.
Valley rain and snow are possible Thursday and Friday, as we sit only two days from the start of April.