SALT LAKE CITY – Gov. Spencer Cox has issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency in 17 of Utah’s 29 counties due to drought conditions.
Luckily for local officials and residents, Cache County isn’t one of them.
Cox cited low stream flow forecasts, increased water demands as temperatures increase and much of southern Utah experiencing extreme drought as the reasons for the declaration that reflects the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s disaster classifications that are informed by the U.S. Drought Monitor and the water supply report recently issued by Natural Resources Conservation Service.
“Our stream flow forecasts are low,” Cox said after signing the disaster declaration, “particularly in southern Utah.”
The state partners closely with federal agencies to share critical water supply and drought updates, according to Joel Ferry, the executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources.
“Proactive planning is essential,” Ferry warned, explaining that severe drought now covers 42 percent of the state and 4 percent of Utah is in extreme drought.
State officials report that Utah’s snow pack peaked at 14.3 inches on March 23, which is equal to the state’s typical annual peak.
But the snow pack in the southwestern portion of the state was only about 44 percent of normal and the winter temperatures there were 2 degrees Fahrenheit higher than normal.
On the positive side, storage reservoirs are at 84 percent of capacity statewide, which is expected to help stretch water supplies. But the state’s Drought Response Committee said that drought conditions are always unpredictable.
The U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) is a weekly map that depicts drought conditions across the United States. It’s produced by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDM is released every Thursday and uses a color-coded system to classify drought severity, ranging from abnormally dry to exceptional drought.
The Drought Monitor summary map identifies general areas of drought and labels them by intensity. D1 is the least intense level and D4 the most intense. Drought is defined as a moisture deficit bad enough to have social, environmental or economic effects.
The Water Supply Report issued by Natural Resources Conservation Service provides forecasts of seasonal stream flow based on data from their Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasting Program. This program monitors snow pack and precipitation in the western United States, using that data to predict stream flow.
The last time that conditions in Utah warranted a drought declaration was in 2022, then 65 percent of the state was in extreme drought and more 99 percent was in at least severe drought conditions.
At that time, the Utah Drought Response Plan was developed and the Drought Response Committee was organized.
The Utah counties impacted by Cox’s April 24 declaration are Washington, Iron, San Juan, Kane, Juab, Emery, Grand, Beaver, Garfield, Piute, Millard, Tooele, Unitah, Carbon, Sevier, Sanpete and Wayne.
Here in Cache County, we are experiencing moderate drought conditions (D1), according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
While the area may have seen a wetter-than-average March, it’s still within a broader period of drought, with an estimated 56.5% of the county’s population impacted.
Cox urged Utahns to use water sparingly this summer, both indoors and outdoors.
State officials say that water-saving tips can be found at www.SlowTheFlow.org