The past week's volley of storms has to have local water officials feeling better. And with the prospect of additional storms on the horizon, Utah's water picture is moving in the right direction, at least for now.
Still, there are no big sighs of relief. The drought - now poised to enter its sixth summer - remains a very real prospect. April 1 is considered the key date by forecasters, giving Mother Nature five more weeks to decide Utah's ultimate water fate for 1992.Snow surveys, released by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service last week, show marked improvement. The Feb. 18 readings show year-to-date snowpack readings improved anywhere from 2 percent to 24 percent in the 13 drainages surveyed. The statewide average is up 9 percent since the Feb. 10 reading.
The Virgin River drainage showed the most improvement, jumping from 83 percent of average two weeks ago to 107 percent in the Feb. 18 survey. Only the Green River drainage, which is at 92 percent of average, failed to improve over the previous week.
Along the Wasatch Front, the Weber-Ogden rivers drainage improved 6 percent to 70 percent of average, the Provo River-Utah Lake-Jordan River drainage jumped 8 percent to 70 percent of average, and the Tooele Valley-Vernon Creek drainage jumped 15 percent to 99 percent of average.
The Bear River drainage improved by 2 percent to 69 percent of average.
Statewide, snowpack is at 77 percent of normal, up 9 percent since Feb. 10.
Other drainage readings included Duchesne River up 7 percent to 64 percent and Sevier River up 12 percent to 86 percent of average.
GRAPHIC
Utah precipitation
Percentage of normal: Feb. 10, 1992
North: 62%
Western: 73%
Dixie: 83%
South: 83%
Southeast: 101%
Uintah: 92%
Northern Mountains: 57%
Percentage of normal: Feb. 18, 1992
Central: 70%
Western: 87%
Dixie: 107%
South Central: 102%
Southeast: 121%
Unitah Basin: 92%
Northern Mountain: 64%