Despite two months’ worth of rain in two days, Utah’s summer precipitation is ‘underwhelming’

The shores of the Great Salt Lake near Syracuse are pictured on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

Despite parts of northern Utah seeing more rain in two days than all of June and July combined, the state says precipitation this summer has been “underwhelming.”

According to data from the National Weather Service, Salt Lake City received just .39 inches of precipitation in June and July — July brought a meager .08 inches, far below what’s normal for the month.

Then, on Monday and Tuesday, storms dumped .77 inches of precipitation in Salt Lake City, bringing more rain to the Wasatch Front in two days than the entire summer leading up to it. Utah county in particular got hammered, with flooding reported in Orem and hail the size of quarters falling in Lehi.

The National Weather Service put a severe thunderstorm warning in place for parts of northern Utah, and an urban and small stream advisory for some of Salt Lake County.

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But storms like that have been “few and far between” this summer, said Candice Hasenyager, director of the Division of Water Resources. Most of the state is currently “abnormally dry” according to the U.S. drought monitor, with parts of northwest and southwest Utah experiencing moderate drought.

“The state has been drying out,” she said. “We need more of these monsoons to saturate our soils for an efficient spring runoff next year.”

The recent storms have increased soil moisture, the division said in a news release, an important metric used in drought, flood and wildfire forecasting. But levels remain “concerningly” low.

According to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, soil moisture around the state was at 39% saturation as of the end of July. That’s in the bottom 10th percentile of all observations since the service’s soil climate analysis network sites were installed in the early 1990s.

That’s partly due to the season’s lackluster precipitation and blazing hot temperatures. For a majority of July and the first week of August, the National Weather Service recorded a daily temperature that was a few degrees higher than what’s historically normal.

For all of July, the average high was 96.3 degrees, compared to 94 degrees, the normal high.

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Still, the winter’s above-average snowfall continues to give Utah’s reservoirs and streams a boost. Across the state, reservoirs are currently at 82%, which is about 18% higher than normal and 3% higher than this time last summer. Many of northern Utah’s reservoirs remain at or above 85% — Jordanelle is at 89%, Strawberry is at 97%, Utah Lake is at 90%, and both Deer Creek and Smith and Morehouse are at 88%.

Since May, the Great Salt Lake has dipped nearly two feet according to state data, with levels in the south arm hovering around 4,193.3 feet on Friday, and the north arm at about 4,192 feet.

According to the Division of Water Resources, the lake tends to drop around 2.5 feet each summer, peaking during the spring. Then, amid evaporation and water flowing to the lake’s north arm, levels drop, usually hitting a seasonal low in the fall.

That’s what appears to be happening this year, with the lake’s south arm hitting a seasonal high of about 4,195 feet in early May, then steadily declining.

In a statement, Hasenyager reminded Utahns to conserve water, especially if the forecast calls for rain.

“Keep an eye on the sky and adjust your yard’s irrigation schedule accordingly,” she said. “Also, fall is a great time to convert nonfunctional lawn to water-wise landscaping. This creates a beautiful, low-maintenance area and saves water.”

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