SALT LAKE CITY Utah is a desert, a fact that comes with one key ecological truth: It s not uncommon to find dry conditions. More often than not, we are in drought, or some level of drought, and the severity just varies between year to year, said Kent Hersey, a state wildlife biologist.
But the droughts at the start of the decade are nothing like droughts seen in 2018 and the current conditions in Utah. The state experienced its driest year on record in terms of precipitation totals in 2020, and soil levels are the driest they ve ever been recorded.
Gov. Spencer Cox issued an emergency declaration last month over the state s water conditions. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Drought Monitor made no changes to the state s drought conditions in its weekly Thursday update. It lists 90% of Utah in at least extreme drought conditions with over half of the state in an exceptional drought, which is the direst category.
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