Snowpack

Monitoring snowpack helps our water managers and partners make management decisions to increase our resiliency.

In Utah, we get approximately 95% of our water from snowpack. Reservoir storage is dependent upon snowpack and runoff to get us through dry years. Extended drought has depleted our reservoirs, and it will take multiple years of above-average snowpack and precipitation to reverse drought impacts.

NRCS Snow Survey Program

The NRCS Snow Survey Program provides mountain snowpack data and streamflow forecasts for the western United States. Common applications of Snow Survey products include water supply management, flood control, drought and avalanche prediction, climate modeling, recreation and conservation planning.

Experts track snowpack using snow water equivalent (SWE), which estimates how much snow would be in the water if it melted. You can view annual snow water equivalent for Utah from 1981 to the present, as well as median, maximum and minimum values, on the NRCS site.

Explore Utah SWE data

Spring 2023

Typically, Utah’s snowpack peaks around the first of April, with a 30-year median of 15.8 inches of water. In 2023, the peak was 30 inches. This breaks the previous record high, making 2023 Utah’s deepest snowpack on record.

High snowpack meant some flooding occurred. However, improvements to infrastructure, a slow melting period and emergency preparedness actions by citizens and state officials minimized damage. Learn more about floods and preparedness from the Utah Division of Emergency Management by visiting floodhazards.utah.gov

Making the most of this snowpack

Last 2022-2023’s record-setting snowpack provided some much-needed relief for Utah’s water supply. But since we don’t know when another wet year like this will come along, we need to unite and focus on reducing water use so we have enough in the future. By continuing to conserve — and finding new ways to stretch the supply — we’ll become more drought resilient as a state.

Conservation Resources:

  • For farmers: Learn how you can get funds for using water more efficiently
  • For residents: Learn how to save more around the house
  • For municipalities: Learn how to integrate water considerations into land planning