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Utah’s snowpack has fallen to its lowest levels on record for this point in the season, with nearly half of the state’s monitoring sites now reporting all-time lows, according to data shared by KSL News. As of February 1, 67 of Utah’s 139 snowpack measuring sites are at their lowest levels ever recorded for the October 1-February 1 period since statewide tracking began in 1981. When averaged statewide, snowpack sits at just 57 percent of normal, making this the weakest start to winter Utah has seen in the modern record.
The numbers are stark even by Utah standards. Roughly half of the state’s monitoring sites are now in what forecasters describe as “uncharted territory,” meaning current snow water equivalent levels are lower than anything previously observed at those locations. To put the situation in historical context, meteorologists have pointed to long-running individual sites such as the Alta Guard House, where snow records date back to 1944. By February 1 of this season, Alta had recorded 126 inches of snow. The only winter known to be worse at that site was 1976–77, when Alta had just 82 inches by the same date. Aside from that notorious season, this winter is shaping up to be one of the lowest-snow years Utah has seen in more than 80 years.
There is, however, a modest silver lining. Statewide precipitation is running near 90 percent of normal, meaning soils are relatively healthy. But precipitation alone does not solve Utah’s water challenges. Snowpack is critical for gradually refilling reservoirs through spring melt, and Utah’s lakes and reservoirs currently average just 66 percent of capacity statewide. Without a significant shift in weather patterns later this winter, water managers warn that runoff may fall well short of what is needed.
The situation mirrors broader concerns across the West. In California, the Department of Water Resources reported that snow water equivalent across the Sierra Nevada is sitting at about 59 percent of average for this time of year, reinforcing worries about both drought and long-term water reliability. For Utah, forecasters and skiers alike are now looking toward the second half of winter, hoping for a sustained pattern change that could still salvage the season—on the mountains and in the reservoirs that depend on them.
