After series of storms, here’s what Utah’s snowpack looks like heading into 2025

SALT LAKE CITY — A series of storms that passed through Utah beginning Christmas morning provided a strong jolt to Utah’s snowpack right before the unofficial halfway point in the snow collection season.

One National Weather Service station near Brighton received over 3½ feet of snow between Christmas Day and Monday morning, while many other sites in the Cottonwood Canyons ended up with at least 2 feet of fresh powder.

While that’s great for snow recreation, the amount of water in the snow is more important to Utah’s water supply. Some sites, including Alta, Ben Lomond Peak and Tony Grove collected at least 5 inches of water from the atmospheric river, nudging the state’s snowpack average closer to normal for New Year’s Day.

Utah’s snowpack jumped from 3.4 inches of snow water equivalent statewide on Dec. 23 to 5.4 inches by New Year’s Eve, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service. It rose from 69% of the median average to 95% in a little over a week.

“We’ve finally been getting those storms we’ve desperately been needing,” said KSL meteorologist Matt Johnson.

It dropped back to 92% early New Year’s Day, yet both seven-day forecasts and long-range outlooks offer a positive outlook for the second half of the traditional collection season. However, some regions may continue to benefit more than others this season.

An unofficial halfway point

Utah’s snowpack collection typically begins in late September and early October, which is why every water year begins on Oct. 1 and not on Jan. 1. The statewide collection season — at least over the last three decades — typically ends in early April, which makes New Year’s essentially the middle point in the season.

Utah normally enters the new year with an average of 5.8 inches of snow water equivalent, but the normal is only a medium point between the vigorous ups and downs of Utah weather.

This season’s track has, so far, been eerily similar to last year’s, when the statewide figure entered 2024 at 69% of the median average before a run in January and February propelled the 2023-24 season from below-average to a second-straight above-average season within the first two weeks of March.

The main difference, at this point, is that the recent wintry blast hoisted this year’s collection closer to normal just ahead of 2025. Now at 5.3 inches of snow water equivalent, this year’s collection is over an inch higher than on Jan. 1 last year but it’s a bit lower than in recent years.

However, this unofficial halfway point means very little in terms of the final season total. Since the modern form of snowpack tracking began in 1981, strong or weak first halves didn’t dictate what happened overall — like what happened last year.

That’s because because the months aren’t equal when it comes to gathering moisture. About 60% of Utah’s snowpack normally comes after New Year’s Day.

That can be good and bad news for this season.

“It’s still very, very early,” Glen Merrill, a hydrologist at the National Weather Service, told KSL.com. “We’ve got the bulk of our winter season and wet spring ahead of us.”

Basin winners and losers so far

Utah’s statewide average is close to normal for the start of 2025, but the number is a little misleading. Northern and central Utah have benefited the most from major storms this season, while southern Utah hasn’t been as lucky.

This shows up in the basin-by-basin snowpack data, where most basins are near normal except for southern Utah, which has parts flirting with near record-low levels.

Merrill explains that the storm track thus far has mostly followed the La Niña oceanic pattern forecast for this winter. While Utah weather is generally uninfluenced by it, there are slightly higher precipitation odds in northern Utah and lower odds in southern Utah.

“The way it’s panned out thus far is pretty typical for an average we’d see,” he said.

A good new year?

More snow is already headed Utah’s way. A system will sweep by northern Utah beginning in the afternoon of New Year’s Day, delivering more snow to the mountains, Johnson said. It’s expected to linger through Thursday morning.

He points out snow accumulation initially models indicated Utah would only get a small dose of moisture from it, but those models are indicating wetter conditions are possible. The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for the Wasatch and West Uinta mountains, which could collect 6 to 12 inches of new snow during the first two days of 2025; it states higher amounts of up to 18 inches are possible in the Bear River Range and upper Cottonwood Canyons.

A bigger storm is forecast to arrive over the weekend, bringing a mix of rain and snow across the state. Full seven-day forecasts for areas across Utah can be found online at the KSL Weather Center.

Long-range forecasts also look more favorable for most of Utah. The weather service’s Climate Prediction Center lists parts of northern Utah as having above-average precipitation during the second half of the traditional snowpack collection season, while most of the state remains in “equal chances” — meaning there’s no clear signal yet for patterns through the end of March.

Southern Utah, however, has slightly stronger odds for below-normal precipitation to continue through the end of the collection season.

If the trends continue, there could be different water situations across the state, Merrill says.

The state reservoir system remains at 76%, which is much higher than the median average; however, reservoirs in areas with drier soil moisture levels and lower snowpack totals will not refill the same way as regions with both. Southwest Utah is already experiencing moderate and severe drought, accounting for a large chunk of drought in the state, as well.

Merrill said he hopes for at least a near-normal snowpack across the state by the end of winter, but the potential regional differences highlight an old saying in the state.

“We’ll have to wait and see what the remainder of the winter brings … but here in Utah if we’re not currently experiencing drought, we’re preparing for the next one,” he said. “Yeah, we’ve had two good seasons but still … things dry out again.”