Spring snowmelt called disastrous

On March 1, snow accumulations in the mountains led Utahns to believe the state would finally have a normal snowmelt and break out of the drought.

One month later, Mother Nature is yelling, "APRIL FOOL!"

The catastrophic disappearance of much of the snowpack reached near-record rates in late March; with daytime temperatures reaching the 70s, the spring snowmelt has begun much too soon.

"March turned into a complete and total disaster," said Randy Julander, snow survey supervisor for the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service in Salt Lake City.

On Wednesday, Salt Lake City's high reached 78, a record for the date and tying the record 78 for any day in March, previously set on March 24, 1956.

KSL meteorologist Len Randolph said the culprit was a combination of high pressure, dry air, wind from the south, a lot of sunshine most of the day and low humidity. "It's just a classic combination for classic heat," he said Similar combinations have been melting Utah's snowpack throughout March.

March 1, the statewide snowpack was measured at 106 percent of normal. April 1 figures are at only 68 percent.

"It may be the worst March we've ever had," Julander added. "It's unbelievably grim. In fact, in a lot of places we have less snow now at this particular point than we had last year. And last year was a big stinker we'd just as soon forget."

When agency scientists traveled by helicopter to Burts Miller Ranch snow course near the Utah-Idaho border to measure the snow, they made an unsettling discovery: This was the first time in gathering data for the April 1 figures "that we ever recorded a zero, no snow on that snow course."

The snow course was established in 1937.

About 10 or 15 miles away is Stillwater Camp, located at the 8,500-foot elevation, which should be deep in snow this time of the year. But its snow held only 4.6 inches of water equivalent, which is the record low, Julander said.

Usually March weather adds to the winter snowpack. This time, the month "turned extremely warm, extremely dry," he said. Not only did the mountains fail to accumulate snow, but it melted "left and right."