Even though fire season is winding down, the lack of precipitation has had a very traumatic effect on the area. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, as of October 23rd, 2018, moderate to exceptional drought covers 20.4% of the United States, a slight decrease from last week’s 20.5%. Extreme and exceptional drought—the worst categories— cover 4.0% of the nation, down from 4.1% last week. 43.5 million people are experiencing these drought conditions. Uintah Basin is suffering from Severe(D2) to Extreme (D3) drought. “We are in the middle of a significant drought,” shares Director of the Utah Division of Water Resources Joshua Palmer. “What people need to do is really simple: turn your [watering system] timer to the off position immediately. 16 of the state’s reservoirs are less then 20 percent full, meaning if we don’t have a good winter we will be wishing we had conserved more this year.”
