Rain boosts northern Utah snowpack, south hurting

OGDEN, Utah (AP) — Last weekend’s rainstorm helped boost the snowpack in northern Utah, but agriculture officials say southern Utah is still struggling with extreme drought.

Twelve Utah counties were declared drought disasters in January.

The canyons east of Salt Lake County now report about 75 percent snowpack, while the low elevation drainages on the Wasatch Front are only producing about 50 percent of normal.

National Weather Service hydrologist Brian McInerney tells KSL-TV the hardest hit areas are central and southern Utah where water supply forecasts are as low as 15 percent.

Northern Utah was headed for trouble too before a series of February storms delivered as much as 2 feet of water in some places. Without that, McInerney he says water supply would have been only 30 or 40 percent of normal.

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