Natural Resources Conservation Service issued an updated Utah Water Supply Outlook Report on March 1st: Statewide, Utah’s snowpack was 88% of normal as of March 1st, which is up 12% from last month and does not include the fresh dose of snow we’ve received since the beginning of the month. Despite the increasingly poor snowpack conditions southward, northern Utah watersheds are in fine shape. With about a month to reach its peak, our snowpack is about 75% of the way there with weather forecasts in March looking promising. February precipitation in Utah was above normal at 128%, lifting the water-year-to-date precipitation up to 90% of normal. Utah’s statewide soil moisture is at about the 30th percentile of observations at 44% of saturation. Soil moisture levels have been increasing midwinter due to early snowmelt in some areas, which may result in lowered runoff efficiency. Reservoir storage has remained high—currently at 79% of capacity and down only 3% from this time last year. In fact, Utah’s reservoir system currently boasts the highest ‘percent of capacity’ compared to all other Western states. Utah’s March 1st snowmelt runoff forecasts range from 31 to 93% of average for Utah’s major basins, and 7 to 109% of average for individual forecast points within those basins.
