Over the last few years Utah has been in a huge drought. Lakes and ponds have reached incredibly low levels and the mountains have received little moisture. Utahns have been worried that the drought would get worse, but some prayers have been answered. Since October, Utah has graciously been given mounds of snow for some period of time. The snow has continued to fall, over the last week of March and early April. The downside to this snowpack? With rising temperatures of the oncoming summer season, the snow has melted and turned into gushing, flooding water.
The snowpack that Utah has been receiving is what is wanted — needed — for the dry state. The issue is that at night the temperature is no longer below freezing, causing the snow to melt at a quicker rate. This leads to the snow turning into water which has found its way into the streets of urban areas such as Weber County, Heber City, Kaysville and more. KSL News reports that “public works crews, construction workers and volunteers from nearby neighborhoods [in Kaysville] gathered Wednesday morning to place sandbags along the street, trudging through ankle-deep water and avoiding the major road erosions.”
Flooding from the high levels of precipitation hasn’t been seen in Utah since 1983. However, the effects of this year’s floods should not be as drastic. Salt Lake County Emergency Management Director Clint Mecham reported to Fox 13 News saying, “Do I expect to see something like ‘83? Probably not … Could we see some water that actually goes over roads and stuff? Depending on how mother nature cooperates or not, we could see water on the roads, but we shouldn’t see another event like 1983.” Draining systems and other ways to control rapid water have definitely changed and improved since 1983, but some Utah residents have still had to put out sandbags to divert the water.
Water Levels in Southern Utah
Rivers around Piute, Garfield Sevier counties have started to fill more and more. It’s important to keep the possibility of floods in mind. For the small towns located in these counties, however, the snowpack is also much needed. With the snowpack and rainfall, the lakes will hopefully continue to rise in levels.
While the late spring has brought some flooding issues, especially for Northern Utah, Central and Southern Utah are taking the blessing from the sky.
– by Ari Hurdsman (18) Junction
Feature image caption: Sandbags line a Northern Utah road while the state was experiencing significant flooding. Courtesy Winston Armani/KSL TV.
Ari Hurdsman – Junction
Ari Hurdsman is a junior journalist at the Byway. She just recently moved to Ephraim, Utah, where she is a freshman at Snow College. She enjoys writing about Piute sports, and she’s really good at it! In her free time, she enjoys singing, dancing, reading and hanging out with friends and family.