Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — The National Weather Service on Wednesday canceled a flood warning for the Bear River in Rich County and a flood advisory for the Sevier River in Garfield County, ending a 40-day stretch of ongoing flood warnings, watches and advisories tied to the state's spring snowpack runoff.
High-elevation runoff is expected to continue this month, though, the agency added that "widespread flooding" is not in the forecast. It notes that bodies of water are "still running fast and cold" as Utah's record 30-inch snowpack continues to melt.
KSL meteorologist Matt Johnson says there are still some remaining risks for localized flooding but the highest danger is when a "heavy downpour" dumps a large amount of rain in a canyon with already high running water. He said it's possible that could happen, but thunderstorms that have passed through the state in recent weeks haven't stayed still long enough to bring that type of rainfall in the canyons.
The bigger concern, he said, may be monsoon-related flash flooding later this summer, should normal monsoons arrive.
"We're kind of out of the woods right now as far as widespread concern for (spring runoff) flooding. We've done it in a measured way," Johnson said. "We've had some flooding along the way that hurt a little but, all in all, I think we're coming out of it."
Utah collected a 30-inch statewide snowpack this year, besting a record set in the 1950s. About 94% of that figure has since melted since its peak on April 8, leaving 1.8 inches of water left in the mountains Wednesday morning, according to Natural Resources Conservation Service data.
Most of the remaining snowpack is along the Wasatch Mountains and in the high-elevation areas of southwest and south-central Utah. For example, there are still 8.2 inches of snowpack left to melt in the Beaver snowpack basin — nearly three times the normal for this point of the year.
This snowpack collection and spring snowmelt process account for about 95% of the state's water supply. The Utah Division of Water Resources reported Utah's reservoir system is now about 80% full, which is eight percentage points above the median percentage for early June, and about 20 points above where it was at the same time last year.
Record snowpack also came with flooding risks. The weather service first issued runoff-related flood advisories for the Santa Clara and Virgin rivers beginning in March before it added advisories for Emigration Creek in Salt Lake City in early April.
The 40-day streak of flooding risk advisories began on April 28, for a series of different streams, creeks and rivers throughout the state, and continued through Wednesday. However, multiple meteorologists and flood-control experts told KSL.com over the past several weeks that a dominant weather pattern that brought warm — but not too hot — daytime temperatures, mixed with afternoon cloud cover and cool evenings, provided the perfect mixture that melted the snow in a more even way than the widespread flooding in 1983.
That pattern is still in place for at least the next seven days, which is good news as the remaining snowpack continues to melt.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who declared a state of emergency over snowmelt flooding and landslides in April, tweeted that he is relieved that most of the risk is over. The Utah Legislature extended the emergency through mid-August, while authorizing up to $40 million in spending tied to snow removal and flood damage, during a special session held last month.
"As fortunate as we were to have record snowfall this year, we were equally fortunate to have near-perfect weather conditions for runoff," Cox said Wednesday. "Combined with the extensive mitigation work done by emergency and public works officials, we achieved a best-case scenario for flooding."
