Utah’s snowpack is slightly below normal, but not a concern yet

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s snowpack levels are currently below normal, but water officials say they aren’t too concerned yet.

Statewide snowpack is 81% normal for this time of the year according to the Utah Division of Water Resources.

Drought Coordinator with the Utah Division of Water Resources Laura Haskell said the low levels aren’t too much of a worry at the moment.

“Right now is sort of a watch-and-see until we get to at least mid-January,” said Haskell. “We’ll start doing some models of what the outlook is for runoff and things like that. So we don’t really do too much looking ahead until then.”

She said it’s still too early to tell, but there are some abnormally dry areas in southern Utah, specifically near Washington County, that may have some drought concerns in the summer.

But overall, statewide reservoir levels are at 75%, with several holding above-normal levels.

For some areas, “their reservoirs are really high and so we have a lot of carryover, so those will be okay,” said Haskell. “The areas that either don’t have a reservoir or have a reservoir that only does a single year of storage, those are areas that we need to pay more attention to.”

She said the center of the state is looking better than other areas.

Utah’s snowpack typically doesn’t peak until April, meaning there is still plenty of time to catch up.

“Obviously we want to be at 100% or we want to be over 100%, but it’s pretty early in the season. We still have time,” said Haskell.

Haskell encouraged Utahns to use water-saving practices that can be found on the Slow the Flow website.

Related: Experts weigh in on sluggish start to Northern Utah’s snow season