Part of Utah reaches severe drought, but change is coming
Oct 14, 2024, 4:00 PM
The shallow Virgin River flows through St. George on Friday, June 10, 2022. (Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News)
(Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY— A recent status update from the U.S. Drought Monitor said part of the Beehive State has reached severe drought status.
A large portion of Washington County, including the area around St. George, is now in severe or D2 drought. The classification marks the first time any part of Utah has reached severe drought since May 2023.
Back then, a portion of Central Utah reached that classification.
Data showed that most of Utah is not listed with any drought status classification. Currently, just over 13% of the state is in any kind of drought. However, nearly 90% of the state is considered at least abnormally dry.
Aside from a portion of Tooele County and small portions of Juab and Box Elder Counties, none of Northern Utah is in a drought.
Change could come
However, Christine Kruse, National Weather Service lead meteorologist said there hasn’t been a measurable amount of rainfall at Salt Lake City International Airport since Sept. 17.
Kruse said there is a chance a storm later this week could break us out of this late-season heat wave.
“It’s definitely good to see so much potential precipitation coming into the state after such a long dry spell.”
Looking back on Utah’s drought status
Compared to one year ago, Utah did not have any land in severe drought. However, almost 7% was in moderate drought.
The levels of drought we’re seeing this year and in 2023 pale in comparison to the height of Utah’s drought in 2022.
“[In October 2022] 65 % of our state was in the extreme drought category or higher which is above where we’re sitting right now. So we’ve come a long way,” said Kruse.
