Click the link to read the article on The Deseret News website (Amy Joi O’Donoghue). Here’s an excerpt:
As of Oct. 1 last year, 73% of land in the Southwest was in some sort of drought. Flash forward to April and only 27% of that same region was impacted by drought. That is according to a Tuesday briefing coordinated by the National Integrated Drought Information System and in conjunction with other entities that include the Colorado River Basin Forecast Center and the National Weather Service.
Utah sat at 100% of its land in some sort of drought, while only a few troublesome spots remain according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Utah now sits at 35% of its land in some sort of drought, but none in the exceptional or extreme categories — the worst of the worst.
Dave Simeral, associate research climatologist with the Western Regional Climate Center/Desert Research Institute based in Reno, Nevada, pointed to the whopping 253% average of precipitation the Great Basin Region received since the new water year began in October. The basin stretches from the Sierras on the West to the Wasatch Range in Utah.