Storms give Utah snowpack a big boost

The white Christmas Utahns enjoyed this week amounted to a Christmas gift from Nature herself — a gift that promises to keep on giving well into the summer.

Storms blowing across the Beehive State for the past week not only whitened lawns and made highways dangerously slick, they also boosted the snowpack, which measures the amount of water in fallen snow. Instead of the sorry 40-percent-of-average that had prevailed in the northern part of Utah, snowpacks are now almost normal in most regions in the north, and are increasing daily.

In the south, conditions are even better, with southeastern Utah accumulations reaching 153 percent of what's considered normal for this time of year.

Should these conditions continue, Utah's farmers, ranchers and other water users should have enough water to sail happily through the hot months of 2008.

Snowfall "started off awfully slow" when the water year began in October, noted Randy Julander, snow survey supervisor at the Salt Lake City office of the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service. "However, things can turn around in a hurry."

Today snow levels in northern Utah are "pushing near-normal conditions," he added. The exception is the Bear River watershed, where scientists found only 65 percent of the 30-year average for this time of the year.

Southern Utah went from "essentially no snowpack at all to 150 percent of average" he said. He would like to see accumulations continue to pile up for a while because sometimes the weather can turn dry, with little additional snow falling.

"Pile it on. It's better to score early and often than later or never."

The outlook for Utah having enough water in the reservoirs this summer is far rosier than it was even two weeks ago. But it's too early to uncork the faux champagne.

"We're only a quarter of the way through winter," Julander warned. "We've got a long way to go to see what this winter brings for us."

Meanwhile, snowplow crews at the Utah Department of Transportation have been out on the road nearly nonstop since the weekend, clearing roads and pre-treating roads in preparation for storms, according to agency spokesman Adan Carrillo. On Wednesday, crews began plowing early in the morning and throughout the day.

Shifts are about eight hours long, and then crews are allowed to go home to their families, Carrillo said. UDOT has 487 snowplows and about 562 drivers able to work statewide.

"We usually don't stop until the storm has cleared the state," Carrillo said of the snowplow operators.