St. George • Sequels are rarely as good as the originals.
That’s not only true of movies but also water years. For example, last winter was a blockbuster with record and near-record snowpack blanketing Utah. Conversely, this year’s totals — especially in southwestern Utah — are less than half of what the region amassed at this time a year ago.
Still, Utah weather and snowpack experts note, expecting a repeat of last winter — one of the top winters in the state’s history — is not realistic. Plus, help is already here and even more rain and snow are on the horizon.
The “Pineapple Express” that slammed California is now making an impact in parched southwest Utah, and is projected to bring 1-2 feet of snow in the mountains by the storm’s end late Saturday or early Sunday. A second Pacific storm — a bit less intense than the current one — is expected to dump more rain and snow in southern Utah next week.
While snowpack totals in northern Utah are near or slightly above normal as of Feb. 1, the levels in southern Utah’s mountains are lagging behind, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service. For his part, Glen Merrill, senior service hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City, prefers to accentuate the positive.
“We are only one or two good storms away from getting back towards a near normal scenario in southern Utah,” Merrill said.
That said, there’s no argument that southern Utah needs to make up some ground between now and the first week of April, when snowpack levels in the region’s mountains reach their peak. All told, Jordan Clayton, supervisor of the Utah Snow Survey, noted the snow-water equivalent in southern Utah’s mountains is hovering at about 76% of normal. That average is derived from gathering all the data from SNOTEL sites the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service maintains throughout Utah and other western states.
In the Upper Virgin River Basin, the snow-water equivalent stands at 7.1 inches, about 72% of normal, according to NRCS numbers. In contrast, last year’s total on Feb. 1 was roughly 16.1 inches, about 230 % of average.
Snowpack in the Coal and Parowan creeks area near Cedar City stands at 7.9 inches or 78% of normal, compared to 211% last year. Snow levels in the Santa Clara basin west of St. George are currently at 70% of average, a big drop from the 223% recorded this time a year ago.
Kanab Basin’s snowpack is 60% of average, about 2 inches of snow-water equivalent, down from 330% last year. And Paria Basin’s snowpack is down from 190% a year ago to 56% currently, according to Clayton.
Still, Clayton said there is no reason for anyone to panic. One major positive is the water levels in many of the state’s reservoirs are far ahead of where they were at this point last year.
“We are seeing conditions in our reservoirs that are above normal for this date … because of all the amazing snowmelt we received last spring,” Clayton said. “If we continue to stay above normal [precipitation] during this month and March, we should be in good shape by the time the snow melts and we need that water during April through July.”
Merrill said most of the state’s medium and small–size reservoirs should eventually fill are after the runoff commences this spring. The exceptions would be to larger bodies of water like Lake Powell, Flaming Gorge and Yuba reservoirs, along with the Great Salt Lake.
Reservoirs in St. George and other areas of southwest Utah are in good shape.
“We currently have 93,000 acre-feet of water stored in Sand Hollow, Quail Creek, Kolob and Gunlock reservoirs,” Karry Rathje, communications director for the Washington County Water Conservancy District, informed The Salt Lake Tribune in an email.
“Our reservoir storage is well above average for this time of year — Sand Hollow is 24% higher than this time last year and Quail Creek is 30% higher than this time last year,” she continued, “We attribute the high reservoir levels to a wet 2023 as well as increased conservation. Washington County used 1.2 billion gallons less water in 2023 than in 2022, despite a nearly 5% increase in connections.”
Due to reservoir levels, as well as ongoing construction on the 3,700 acre-foot Chief Toquer Reservoir and other reservoirs now in the planning stages, district officials say they don’t anticipate any water supply shortages. Chief Toquer Reservoir is a major component of the district’s $1 billion regional reuse system currently being developed in phases.
“Our reservoirs are shining stars,” Rathje said.
Indeed, Merrill said, water storage in Utah reservoirs, on average, is the highest it has been in over a decade. With the current slew of storms and two more months of winter remaining, Merrill expects southern Utah’s snowpack levels to improve to near-normal levels by spring.
As sequels go, he and others insist, the water outlook could be better but is not all that bad.
