Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Andrew Adams and AP reporting One of the wettest Decembers on record is providing optimism about the water picture. At the end of November, snowpack was as low as 25 percent of normal. Now, levels are approaching normal.
National Weather Service hydrologist Brian McInerney is hoping the levels can stay that way. "If we keep that going, we can do quite well. And if we do that, and we produce just a normal snowpack--not an above-average snowpack--in April 1, we can fill the majority of the reservoirs and look very good with water supply," he said.
To give you an idea of how big December was, Salt Lake International Airport usually gets 12 inches of snow in December. This year, it received 29 inches.
Meanwhile, it was the wettest December for Utah Valley since 1983.
The Brigham Young University weather station logged 3.7 inches of snow and rain for the month -- the valley's fourth highest tally since the start of record-keeping in 1889.
BYU weather observer David James the Provo River snowpack rebounded quickly during December to 90 percent of normal from only 26 percent of normal.
James said the biggest December perception count on record for Utah Valley was in 1983, when 6 inches of rain and snow fell.
(The Associated Press contributed to this article. Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)