The recent snow in Utah has helped increase the Great Salt Lake's water levels, but won't be enough to lift the lake out of drought.
"The recent decline has been precipitous, with a loss of 9.2 feet in the last 10 years," Wayne Wurtsbaugh, professor emeritus of Watershed Sciences at Utah State University,"That decline exposed 500 square miles of lakebed and severely desiccated the lake's two important estuaries that harbor hundreds of thousands of migratory birds. The increased lake bed exposure has also increased toxic dust storms that reach Salt Lake City and the rest of the Wasatch Front communities.
"We estimate that consumptive use of water for agriculture, urban and other applications has decreased the lake level 11 feet, and the recent drought has decreased it another 6 feet," Wurtsbaugh said."The drought may be the start of the predicted decrease in precipitation and runoff due to global climate change. The increasing use of water is the result of the very high population growth.
The extent of the lake's drought has since decreased, with only"moderate drought" and"severe drought" surrounding the lake as of March 7, 2023. This is thought to be in part due to the heavy snow across the region in recent weeks, as the snowpack feeds into the lake. The snowpack in parts of Utah is currently at 176 percent that of the average snowpack for this time of year.
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