After promising start, northern Utah's snowpack is back below average
Hopes of an exceptional water year are fading for agriculturists across northern Utah. A mix of unseasonably warm weather and low precipitation throughout February stopped snowpack accumulation. Levels are now below average.
“It would have been nice to not have to worry about water at all this summer,” said Ike Thomas, a rancher in Tremonton. “February turned out to be a really disappointing month.”
Despite the change in weather, Troy Brosten, a hydrologist for the National Resources Conservation Service in Utah, is still confident farmers and ranchers will have enough water for the upcoming year.
“Odds are the farming industry will do just fine,” Brosten said. “There will be some concerns about water restraints, but there is no issue yet.”
Randy Julander, the snow survey supervisor for the organization, agreed.
“For irrigated agriculture, we are in much better shape than we were last year,” he said. “We are now expecting a little below normal streamflow, but it should be adequate enough to get us through this year.”
According to Julander, the average accumulation of basins in northern Utah is around 80 percent of the average.
“Out of northern Utah, Uintah Basin is in the worst condition,” Julander said.
That system is sitting at around 80 percent of average, he said, and following the last storm the Bear River system has increased to around 90 percent of average.
The snowpack, which typically hits its peak around April 1, isn’t expected to increase at all throughout the next month. However, even with the drop in accumulation, snowpack levels are double what it was last year.
Thomas said he is grateful for the water that is available, even if it is no longer going to be a record year for moisture.
“There isn’t as much water as we were originally hoping for,” Thomas said. “But last year, we were much worse off. If it wasn’t for the rain we received early last summer, production would have been horrible. At least we aren’t in that situation again."