ALTA, Utah — Utah’s snowpack is approaching record territory as the latest number show the water currently in the state's snowpack is higher than it has ever been at this point in March since the collection of data began in the late 1970’s.
Currently, 138 SNOTEL sites operate in Utah across the state.
“In general, if we have 20 inches of precipitation in a snowpack, that's a good year,” said Troy Brosten, a hydrologist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service. “This right here is double what we would consider as good.”
Brosten is referring to measurements collected at the Atwater SNOTEL site located near the Alta ski area.
The site records some of the most impressive numbers in Utah.
“Currently, we have 150 inches of snow depth here,” Brosten said. “We have 12-and-a-half feet.
"That's pretty darn phenomenal.”
The snow at the Atwarer site is so dense and deep, hydrologists struggled pushing their measuring equipment all the way to the ground.
They regularly hike and snowshoe to every SNOTEL site to manually measure the snowpack to verify the accuracy of the automated readings.
The numbers collected are crucial for water managers.
“They start looking at that data and then start planning out summer allotments of the water,” Brosten said. “They want to know how much is going to come into the reservoirs.”
With more time to accumulate more snow in the early spring, Utah could break the all-time record for snow water equivalent set in the winter of 1982-83.
That water is desperately needed in the state’s reservoirs.
“There are going to be a lot of reservoirs sitting pretty well at the end of this runoff period,” Brosten said. “For the near future, summer, agriculture — it's looking pretty good.”
But Brosten cautioned, one above average winter is not enough to end the long term consequences of the drought.
“You’re looking at Lake Powell, Lake Mead. Those reservoirs, those lakes will take a decade of above-snowpack seasons.”
