Drought's over: Tallies at end of the water year delight experts

Following a water year that Utah's chief snowpack scientist has described as "phenomenal" and "absolutely amazing," Randy Julander is proclaiming the six-year drought over.

Utah endured a drought from 1999 into 2004, but experts say the amount of rain and snow recorded during the just-completed water year — Oct. 1, 2004, to Sept. 30, 2005 — "was good enough that it brought all of those years back to average condition," said Julander, snow survey supervisor for the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service in Salt Lake City.

"In terms of snowpack, of course, it was just an astounding year," he said. "Southern Utah hasn't had snowpack like this — ever. We've come out of a really nasty drought."

But he cautioned that a dry winter could quickly put the state back into a drought.

Still, the past year's positive results, Julander said, have left him "tickled to death."

Communities across the state recorded precipitation amounts ranging from just above normal for a water year to almost 200 percent above normal, according to the National Weather Service. Salt Lake City International Airport received 19.15 inches of precipitation, 116 percent above normal, which is 16.50 inches, the agency reported. In southern Utah, St. George notched 175 percent of normal with 15.39 inches. Hanksville came in at 201 percent, Boulder 177 percent and Pleasant Grove 163 percent of normal.

Around Utah, most reservoirs hit or inched close to capacity during the year. Streams and rivers ran high and fast. Snowpack was deep statewide. Overall, reservoir levels are still at 61 percent of capacity.

Part of the rapid turnaround from 2004 can be seen in water levels at Bear Lake. The popular recreation spot on the Utah-Idaho border contains an average of 233,000 acre feet of water. Last year it was below average.

"Not only did they get enough to use, but they could put some back in the bank. And boy, did that take some pressure and tension off," Julander said. "We're almost as giddy as little high school girls watching a boy band."

According to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, individual reservoirs have increased by huge amounts from last year. As the water year ends, the Bear River Basin is at 20 percent capacity; Weber River, 69 percent; Provo, 81 percent; Duchesne, 77 percent; southeastern Utah, 66 percent; Sevier, 57 percent; and southern Utah, 82 percent.