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SALT LAKE CITY — The moisture from May rainstorms helped compensate for June's relentless heat, according to a new climate and water report.
Rainfall in May was more than 200 percent of the month's average across the state, the Natural Resources and Conservation Service report indicates, but that was followed up by the hottest June weather on record. As temperatures soared to triple digits in June, precipitation fell 73 percent below average, according to the report.
"June was warm and dry, but because May was wet and cool, they balance out," said Randy Julander, Utah Snow Survey supervisor with the conservation service.
Coming after a virtually snowless winter that left Utah facing a grim water year, the heavy rains didn't manage to alleviate the state's drought but helped keep the state's water supply from dropping to an even more troubling level.
"We're about dead even where we were last year with reservoir storage," Julander said. "(Without the May rainfall) we would probably be right now in the low 50s of reservoir capacity storage, maybe even lower. … We're going to make it through this year."
Statewide, reservoirs are at 67 percent capacity, compared with 66 percent at this time last year, according to the report.
The water that flowed into Utah's reservoirs in May was enough to match the water that flowed out in June. Additionally, Utahns' efforts to conserve water over the past two months have also kept water supplies steady, Julander said.
As Julander puts it, Utah's bacon has been pulled back from the fire and put back in the frying pan.
"It's still plenty hot in the frying pan," he notes, "but it's a whole lot better than being in the fire."
Though May's rainfall helped fill the state's reservoirs, the majority of its streams, which rely on snowfall, are suffering, Julander said Monday.
"Stream flow across the state is really tanking, getting lower and lower, faster and faster," he said. "A lot of streams are running in the 25 or 30 percent range and are not going to improve. In fact, they're probably going to decline even further. A lot of them may actually make it down to the 10 percent range."
The only streams running near normal levels are those being fed by the reservoirs, according to the report.
June's hot and dry weather essentially mimicked the state's typical July trends, KSL meteorologist Kevin Eubank said Monday. Meanwhile, the monsoon-like thunderstorms that rolled in over the weekend are a good indicator that July's forecast will look more like traditional August weather.
Utah's 90-day weather outlook points to an uptick in precipitation as summer temperatures continue, which makes for brief but potentially powerful summer storms, Eubank said.
"The pattern is that it will take the heat of the day and keep it overnight because of the cloud cover," Eubank noted.
Meanwhile, the thunderstorms that hit northern Utah on Monday are expected to continue through Thursday before giving way for a hot, dry weekend, Eubank said.
June was warm and dry, but because May was wet and cool, they balance out.
–Randy Julander, Utah Snow Survey
The water in the reservoirs is already proving important to the state's crops, Julander said. As the summer goes on, however, Utah farmers will likely be hoping for more rain, he said.
"All of that rain in May did a fantastic job," Julander said. "Mother Nature really did what we couldn't. The first crop of hay, absolutely outstanding, and small grains, wheat, barley, those kinds of things, it's going to be a fantastic year."
To get through the end of the summer, and with no indicator of how long the drought with drag on, Utahns need to continue the conservation efforts — such as not overindulging their thirsty lawns on dry days — to keep the reservoirs from dipping too low, Julander said.
"You always have to play that conservation card," he said. "We need to be judicious and conservative in the way we manage this resource. The faster we learn that, the better off we're going to be."
