SALT LAKE CITY — As many Utah cities have seen intense flooding this week, there's good news for drought conditions.
As of Thursday, most northern Utah areas are now out of drought status. Roughly 30% of the state is listed as having "no drought" while 70% of Utah is listed as "abnormally dry" (with 35% of that land mass still listed in "moderate drought" and only 7% of that same land mass is classified as "severe drought.")
It coincides with record-breaking snow storms after years of drought. However, Utah's Department of Natural Resources has repeatedly cautioned that Utah can very easily slip back into more severe drought conditions as we head into summer and have continued to urge water conservation to recharge reservoirs and save the Great Salt Lake.
According to the new U.S. Drought Monitor report released Thursday, only a small portion of Utah's most populous county is under drought status at all. The majority of Salt Lake County is now categorized as abnormally dry, while the southwestern portion of the county is still under moderate drought.
Eastern sections of the country are under no drought designation at all.
The downgraded status marks the first time in three years that Salt Lake City has been without drought designation. In addition, large portions of Utah, Summit, Morgan, Davis, Weber, Box Elder and Rich counties also have no drought designation at all.
Parts of Utah County are still under drought status, with areas under moderate drought.
The entirety of Cache County was also under no drought designation in the new report, which is an improvement from last week when most of the county was designated as "abnormally dry."
The downgraded status across the state is seen as many cities have experienced flooding due to warm temperatures and melting snow.
Parts of Tooele County are still under "severe drought" status, but conditions within the county improved slightly since the last report with more areas in the "moderate drought" category.
In southern Utah, conditions are staying steady with the majority of Washington and Iron counties ranked as "abnormally dry" and some areas still under moderate drought.
