Most of Utah's snowpack has melted. What do Utah's reservoirs look like now?
People recreating near Utah reservoirs this Memorial Day weekend will likely find many of them full after a mixed bag of a winter.
Utah's reservoir system remains 87% full with about 10% of the peak statewide snowpack left to melt, according to Utah Division of Water Resources data. Twenty-five of the state's 43 largest reservoirs are currently 81% full or more, including five that are listed at full capacity.
Only eight are listed at 60% or lower, including Lake Powell, the nation's second-largest reservoir, and Panguitch Lake, which is still being repaired after cracks were found in the dam last year. Some of the other lower reservoirs are also scattered across central and southern Utah, where this year's snowpack wasn't as productive as in northern Utah.
'It's encouraging to see how much we've benefited these last three years, having average or above-average precipitation and snowpack,' said Joel Williams, the water division's deputy director. 'It's helped fill our reservoirs. We still are hurting in the southern part of the state … and we know we need some good snowpack in the future to help them out.'
Williams provided members of the Utah Legislature's Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Interim Committee an update on the state's snowpack on Wednesday. While reservoir numbers are good, he outlined some trends that water managers must track this year.
This year's spring snowmelt hasn't been as efficient as experts had hoped, which lowered the state's water outlook heading into May. Snowmelt has been 'a bit earlier than average,' so the statewide snowpack could reach zero inches of snow-water equivalent before it normally does in the middle of June.
Reservoirs at 100% or more capacity:
East Canyon Reservoir
Pineview Reservoir
Porcupine Reservoir
Scofield Reservoir
Woodruff Creek Reservoir
Woodruff Narrows Reservoir
Reservoirs at 81% to 99% capacity:
Big Sand Wash Reservoir
Causey Reservoir
Currant Creek Reservoir
Deer Creek Reservoir
Echo Reservoir
Flaming Gorge Reservoir
Joes Valley Reservoir
Jordanelle Reservoir
Hyrum Reservoir
Lost Creek Reservoir
Miller Flat Reservoir
Newton Reservoir
Otter Creek Reservoir
Rockport Reservoir
Sand Hollow Reservoir
Smith and Morehouse Reservoir
Starvation Reservoir
Stateline Reservoir
Strawberry Reservoir
Utah Lake
Willard Bay
Reservoirs at 61% to 80% capacity:
Bear Lake
Cleveland Lake
Gunlock Reservoir
Huntington North Reservoir
Ken's Lake
Millsite Reservoir
Moon Lake Reservoir
Quail Creek Reservoir
Red Fleet Reservoir
Settlement Reservoir
Steinaker Reservoir
Reservoirs at 41% to 60% capacity:
Gunnison Reservoir
Minersville Reservoir
Panguitch Lake
Piute Reservoir
Yuba Reservoir
Reservoirs at 21% to 40% capacity:
Lake Powell
Lower Enterprise
Upper Enterprise
Several southern and central Utah basins have already reached the end of the snowmelt, hitting zero inches earlier than usual, according to Natural Resources Conservation Service data. Some had decent snowpack levels, but Williams said it was also a 'dismal' winter for southern Utah. As a result, Gov. Spencer Cox's drought declaration centered on 17 counties, mostly within those regions.
Despite dropping levels, some Lake Powell ramps remain open for Memorial Day weekend. The Antelope Point Business, Bullfrog North Launch, Halls Crossing, Wahweap Main and Wahweap Stateline Auxiliary ramps are available for houseboats and small motorized vehicles, per the National Park Service.
Meanwhile, most of the remaining snowpack is in the highest elevations of northern Utah. About 2 inches of snow-water equivalent remains within the Great Salt Lake basin, 11% of its peak and 63% of its median average for late May.
This year's projected hot summer could increase evaporation rates along lower-level reservoirs and the Great Salt Lake, which is something water managers will have to 'plan for,' Williams cautioned. Potential monsoonal moisture would help reduce evaporation loss over the summer should storms materialize, but long-range outlooks seem to indicate that those storms may not reach the Great Salt Lake Basin.
Water conservation measures are encouraged, as the state hopes for a better snowpack next winter.
The Great Salt Lake's southern arm lost 3 feet of water after last year's summer heat. Williams said lake levels could become a concern again if the region experiences a repeat this summer.
The lake is currently listed at 4,193.4 feet elevation, which is a level that could still impact brine shrimp viability, recreation and ecosystem health, according to the state's Great Salt Lake Strategic Plan. It's only about 1½ feet above a stage where 'serious' effects on air quality and mineral production are also possible. The lake hit a record low of 4,188.5 feet elevation in 2022 before a couple of good snowpack seasons improved the lake's fortunes.
'We had a little bit of a breathing (room) and it's back to a little bit of a nervous feeling,' Williams said. 'We don't want to hit a new record low; we want to maintain the progress we've had and work on increases and ways we can increase the flow.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Colorado Officials Euthanize ‘Chronic' Problem Wolf That Was Killing Livestock
The challenges associated with bringing gray wolves back to Colorado were illuminated yet again last week. On Thursday, state wildlife managers made what they called the 'very difficult' decision to kill a wolf that was preying on livestock on private land in Pitkin County, and which had previously been relocated from another county due to concerns around livestock depredations. The lethal removal took place the evening of May 29 on an unidentified cattle ranch. It was the first time that officials with Colorado Parks and Wildlife have killed a wolf since the voter-led reintroduction effort began in 2023. It was not, however, the first time that CPW has dealt with this particular wolf, which was identified in an agency news release as gray wolf 2405 and a member of the Copper Creek Pack. Read Next: The Wolf Pack Responsible for the Majority of Livestock Depredations in Colorado Will Be Relocated, Not Killed Officials explained that the young male wolf had met their definition of 'chronic depredation' after being linked to four such events in an eight-day period. They said those events occurred even with non-lethal deterrence measures in place. They pointed to 'clear and convincing evidence' that 2405 was responsible for three of the cows that were injured or killed on several different ranches in Pitkin County around Memorial Day weekend. 'The decision to take lethal management action was very difficult,' CPW director Jeff Davis said in a statement. 'Our wildlife biologists constructed a timeline of recent events that shows the depredation behavior met the conditions for chronic depredation that were defined earlier this year. We have great respect for these animals and take the removal of a wolf very seriously.'Davis went on to explain that the action was meant 'to discourage [the] other pack members' from preying on livestock. He said the agency would continue to monitor the behavior of those remaining pack mates 'to determine if behavior has changed,' but didn't specify what management actions might be taken based on that behavior in the future. It's also unclear based on CPW's timeline of events whether wolf 2405 was acting alone, or if other members of the pack were involved in the depredations as well. That timeline cites GPS collar data, which showed 'some wolves from the Copper Creek Pack were in the area' where the depredations took place on May 24 and 25. A CPW spokesperson did not give a specific answer when asked by OL whether this collar data might indicate that multiple wolves from the Copper Creek Pack were involved in the Pitkin County depredations in May. The spokesperson clarified that 2405 was 'a member of a pack determined to have met the definition of chronic depredation' and said CPW would post a full report with more information soon. '[This] is not something that we take lightly,' CPW wolf conservation program manager Eric Odell said in Friday's news release. 'Removal of animals early in the restoration process is a balance between managing populations of wolves, while also assisting landowners in resolving ongoing conflicts with wolves.' CPW also noted in Friday's announcement that it is currently monitoring four potential dens across the state, and that more pups will likely be born this spring. That should bring Colorado closer to its eventual goal of a self-sustaining gray wolf population, while at the same time giving wildlife managers more GPS-collared wolves to keep track of. There are currently 23 collared wolves roaming the state, and their movements are updated monthly in a map maintained by CPW. In many ways, the Copper Creek Pack has embodied how complicated and contentious Colorado's wolf restoration process has been. The pack was formed by two of the 10 wolves that were initially brought over from Oregon and released in Grand and Summit Counties back in December 2023. The mating pair established a den in Grand County that winter and gave birth to five pups the following spring. Read Next: Coloradans Who Oppose Wolf Reintroduction Can't Agree on How to Try Ending It Conflicts soon followed. Between April and July 2024, as wolf advocates celebrated the pack's formation, CPW confirmed multiple livestock depredations by the pack's two adult wolves. Ranchers in Grand County pleaded with both the state and the federal government to lethally remove the wolves, but their requests were denied. Although CPW's policy director told commissioners at one point that the adult pair had caused 'the main issues in depredation' among all the wolves that were relocated there from Oregon, the agency ultimately decided that killing the two breeding wolves would be 'irresponsible' and could hamper its larger recovery goals. CPW chose instead to capture and relocate the Copper Creek Pack in September. The male wolf died soon after capture, and one of the pups eluded officials, while the remaining four pups and the female were trapped and held at an undisclosed facility for several months. The five Copper Creek wolves were then re-released this last winter along with the 15 additional gray wolves that were translocated from British Columbia to Eagle and Pitkin Counties in January. At the time of the Copper Creek Pack's capture last fall, CPW acknowledged that relocation was not how it planned to handle those types of conflicts going forward. Ranchers, meanwhile, expressed their concerns that by relocating the wolves, wildlife managers were simply moving the problem instead of solving it. Read Next: Colorado Parks and Wildlife Releases Second Batch of Wolves Amid Threats, Rumors, and Growing Controversy 'By refusing to manage problem wolves, CPW has allowed livestock depredations to continue unchecked, while fostering a pack of depredating wolves,' read an August 2024 letter from the Colorado Cattlemen's Association to CPW director Jeff Davis. 'Pups from these problem wolves will be trained to 'hunt' and survive off livestock.'
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Holiday doesn't move gas prices much
Gasoline prices in the Northeast are declining after a busy runup to the Memorial Day holiday that pushed gasoline demand to the highest level of the year so far, according to AAA Northeast. The surge in demand for gas during the week ending May 23 reached 9.45 million barrels a day, an increase of more than 800,000 barrels a day, or 9%, over the prior week, according to the Energy Information Administration. That's the highest demand reading for the week leading into Memorial Day since 2018 and contributed to a sizable drop in gasoline inventories across the nation, including a decline of nearly 3 million barrels in the Northeast. Supplies of gasoline now sit at a 2025 low and are down 5.8 million barrels from the comparable week of last year, the release stated. Normally, strong demand and tightening inventories would spur price increases at the pump, but oil prices remain suppressed on market expectations for more crude production around the world, especially from OPEC+ member nations. The group last week agreed to increase production in July by about 400,000 barrels a day — the third straight month of production increases. Uncertainty about global demand and trade also are quelling market activity that could push prices higher. The average gas price in New York is down a penny from last week ($3.12), averaging $3.11 per gallon. Monday's price was a penny higher than a month ago ($3.10) and 54 cents lower than a year ago ($3.65). New York's average gas price is 3 cents lower than the national average. 'Based on gasoline demand, the lead up to the Memorial Day holiday kicked off the summer driving season with gusto,' said Patti Artessa, director of public affairs outreach for AAA Northeast. 'But one strong week isn't enough to significantly move retail gasoline prices, especially with domestic production continuing near record levels.' AAA Northeast's June 2 survey of fuel prices found the current national average down 3 cents from last week ($3.17), averaging $3.14 per gallon. Monday's national average price is 4 cents lower than a month ago ($3.18) and 39 cents lower than the same day last year ($3.53). Mississippi and Texas have the lowest prices in the nation this week, at $2.64 and $2.70, respectively. California and Hawaii hold the highest prices in the nation this week at $4.77 and $4.47, respectively. New York holds the 15th place on the list of highest gas prices in the nation.
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Charlotte City Council considering $25 million for NASCAR Hall of Fame improvements
Charlotte City Council is considering spending $25 million to upgrade the NASCAR Hall of Fame. This is the first major renovation project for the city-owned facility since its opening in 2010. 'We done updates from an exhibit standpoint,' Executive Director Winston Kelley said. 'But nothing on this level of magnitude.' A significant portion of the Hall of Fame would see changes under the proposal. A new education space would go where the current gift shop is located. The NASCAR Hall of Fame has served more than 21,000 students since its opening. It welcomes many field trips each year. An event space would take the space currently occupied by the café. The café would relocate to the Legends Room. A new gear shop will replace the former studio space. ASLO READ: Rockingham Speedway up for sale after NASCAR return The city of Charlotte has a dedicated fund for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The fund can only be used on projects for the NASCAR Hall of Fame, the Crown Ballroom and the Hall of Fame and Convention Center's parking deck. The fund is paid for by a 2% tax added on to hotel bills. Last year, more than 201,000 people visited the Hall of Fame. That's the second-highest attendance since opening in 2010. Charlotte City Councilmember Ed Driggs asked for more information about the Hall's finances but generally leaders are in favor of the improvements. Like the Spectrum Center, the NASCAR Hall of Fame is a city asset that they are required to maintain. RELATED: Prime Video's first NASCAR race averages 2.72 million viewers, younger audience The Hall of Fame was projected to bring in 800,000 visitors for its first year. It has never hit that figure. Despite the attendance, Councilman James Mitchell says the Hall of Fame has been a success. He was a city leader as Charlotte recruited the facility. 'This has been good for tourism,' he said. 'This has been good for our brand.' The CRVA says the NASCAR Hall of Fame has an annual economic impact of $74 million. Charlotte City Council will consider the project again in the late summer. (WATCH BELOW: NASCAR drivers to honor fallen heroes in yearly Memorial Day tradition)
