Utah Governor Spencer Cox issued an executive order on Thursday declaring a state of emergency due to extreme drought conditions. In Utah, one hundred percent of the state is in a moderate drought category, while 90% is in extreme drought.According to a news release, this declaration allows communities affected by droughts, agricultural producers and others to officially begin the process that may provide access to state or federal emergency resources.
Following a record dry summer and fall, the winter’s snowpack is only about 70% of average for the year. In addition, current soil moisture is at the lowest levels since monitoring began in 2006.
The last time a drought executive order was declared was by Gov. Gary Herbert on Oct. 15, 2018. At that time, 76% of Utah was experiencing severe drought conditions.
You can learn more about current drought conditions and impacts in Utah here: https://water.utah.gov/water-data/drought/
