SALT LAKE CITY — A traditional Utah winter, which runs from the winter solstice in December to the spring equinox in March, is usually when the state gets most of its snowpack. But this year, the winter just ending saw more water in Utah's snowpack than any winter in more than 40 years of records.
Snow Water Equivalent, or SWE, measures the water content that will flow in the spring runoff. Right now, it appears that Utah has the potential to set an overall water year record.
However, there was already a record set this winter.
From Dec. 21 to March 21, there was an 18.7 inch rise of snow water equivalent gained from solstice to equinox. That's greater than big snow years such as 1982 and 2019, but a seasonal record isn't the big flooding concern.
What matters now is the snow as the calendar moves forward to May and then June. In 1983, which topped out at 26 inches of SWE, it was the lingering snowpack that quickly melted, which caused major flooding, while this year is getting close with 25.1 inches.
If conditions start warming in a couple of weeks and continue in April, Utah residents will be better off than 1983. But each cold, wet day get the state much closer to a similar picture seen four decades ago.
