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Dry Places


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My question is this: what are the 6 driest states in the USA; if possible, please put in order- 1 thru 6. It is uncertain in my mind and here at work, we are having a rather mix-up debate on this issue.

Thank you,

Bob H.

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Bob, great question. We have answered this one before but it's buried back in the log here. Perhaps I should talk to the internet guys this week about organizing this page :).

The link is on the right. Nevada is the driest state. Here's the list from the most dry being number 1.

1) Nevada 9.50 2) Utah 12.22 3) Wyoming 12.92 4) Arizona 13.59 5) New Mexico 14.58 6) Montana 15.34

So there you have it, hopefully your bet is settled. We are a dry state on average. Yes, we have places that get a TON of water like at Alta which gets around 500 inches of snow a year. That's where our water supply comes from on the Wasatch it's very precious. Averages are averaged over the whole state. There will always be areas that get a lot of water and areas that get none.

Alta averages 53.79 inches of water! Salt Lake gets 15.29 of water, big difference. The watershed is essential to our population. But there are years where we get low snow totals up in the canyons like this year. Hence, the need to always not be wasting water is everpresent.

And by the way, if we see your sprinkler on when it's raining, we might just leave a friendly note on your door. Check the forecast and water wisely!

Answered by KSL Meteorologist Dina Freedman.

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