SALT LAKE CITY — You don't need a weather report to understand how the current snow season in the northern Utah valleys has been... lacking.
While the mountains have been doing fine and getting their fair share of snow, those living in the valleys are left wondering if the calendar skipped over winter and went right into spring.
As of Tuesday, Salt Lake City had received just 6.1 inches of snow this water season, which started on Oct. 1, a mark eighth-worst in the history of Utah's capital. But does the slow start mean it's already time to start dreaming of a White Christmas in December?
Not exactly.
"Of course, anytime you start off a year a little bit on the low side, you're liable to end up a little bit on the lower side," explained meteorologist Seth Warthen with the Salt Lake City office of the National Weather Service.
Normally, at this time of year, Salt Lake City is close to having 26 inches of snow, so 6.1 inches seems pretty low. The key is not to focus on the early returns and wait to see what Mother Nature brings over the long haul of a season.
"For context, last year at this time we were 13.3 inches, so still fairly well below average, but we still ended up with a pretty decent snow year all things considered," Warthen added.
Even some of the worst snow starts in Salt Lake City history ended up being seasons in which residents may have been begging for warmer weather to return. At this time in 1996, the city had received just 2.8 inches of snow, the third worst in history, and ended up with nearly 90 inches at the end of the water year for a Top 15 all-time season.
Here's the data for Salt Lake City. The last time we recorded less snow at SLC up to this point was in 2003, though we were not far from this pace in 2015. https://t.co/6Us1AwHWsk pic.twitter.com/mc1LBlTqpq
— NWS Salt Lake City (@NWSSaltLakeCity) January 14, 2025
"As far as, though, if you can use [early snow returns] as an indicator for what's to come, it's not really the best indicator of what's to come," said Warthen.
Of course, there are many who want their snow and they want it now.
"We got a lot of people who want to know why isn't it snowing, where's the snow," admitted Warthen. "Thankfully, so far this year, we started to get some snow in the mountains."
Unfortunately, for the valleys, the upcoming forecast looks cold but dry with no substantial northern snow on the horizon for at least the next week.
