During March, Utah’s snowpack deteriorated from borderline record poor conditions to completely unchartered territory by April 1. After some brief storm activity at the beginning of the month, warm and dry conditions prevailed, causing early ripening and rapid snowmelt. Statewide snow water equivalent (SWE) levels peaked on March 9 which was more than three weeks earlier than normal. Since 1980, only the years 2004, 2007, and 2015 had snowpack peaks as early as the first part of March, and for those years there was a fairly normal rate of SWE loss as snowmelt began. Instead, in 2026, the rate of...

Article Link