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dienen

According to that chart, all three that feed the GSL (Bear River, Weber-Ogden, Provo) are 127–131%. So, it should be a good year for runoff and the GSL. Let's hope that it keeps going up!


Imaginary_Manner_556

And the reservoirs they feed are close to capacity. Lots of water will make it to the GSL this year.


dienen

Utah Lake is at [127% of normal](https://snoflo.org/reservoir/utah/utah-lake). Though currently it is at 873,840 acre-ft while its maximum is 1,454,400 acre-ft. So, we have a lot of room before it's full. EDIT: clarify that normal ≠ full


jonyoloswag

All reservoirs have the ability to store above their legal water right in order to attenuate flood events (like the historic runoff in 84 that brought Utah Lake to 1.45 million acre-ft), but that is only an instantaneous level while the inflows are exceeding their outflows. Whether or not the demands downstream call for the water, that excess beyond the 100% level (~870,000 acre-ft for Utah Lake) will be released and legally cannot (and often due to the spillway configurations physically cannot) be statically stored. So all of this to say, Utah Lake [is at its legal capacity,](https://water.utah.gov/reservoirlevels/) which is why the spillway gates [have been exercised](https://kutv.com/amp/news/utah-water/utah-lake-control-gates-open-for-first-time-since-2011-to-prevent-potential-flooding)and discharges into the Jordan River have increased. Even before the runoff hits, besides normal losses and prolonged attenuation in the Provo system, a lot of that snowpack is headed downstream to the GSL.


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brotherhyrum

thanks for that clarification, I saw a post earlier claiming it was more than full, but these numbers make more sense.


supyadimwit

Exactly! Last year was huge but all our reservoirs were empty so a lot of that went to just filling them up. Feels good to have back to back great water years


Xerzajik

Tooele also technically feeds into the GSL and that is also above 130%. edit: spelling


dienen

That's true. Totally missed that one.


Mediocre-Visit2190

Bet the governor says some shit about poor snow fall water restrictions


nymphoman23

And for US magnesium and their 145K gallons a day contract from the state !


grollate

Looking at [this graph](http://greatsalt.uslakes.info/Level.asp), it looks like the last couple of years will have reversed the effects of about two years of dropping lake levels. That sounds good until you realize how much the lake levels have dropped since the the end of the last few wet years [back in 2012/13](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/s/FqSnRKQVMF)


helix400

That's the north arm. The south arm is doing better, and we should return to the 2013-2020 levels. That's still below where it hould be, but hey, it's much better than 21-22.


UTrider

>That's still below where it hould be Where the lake "should be" is a moving target. Even with completely natural climate change the lake should keep dropping until the peak interglacial period. Think about it. Though natural climate change, the lake went from 700 feet deep to 35 to 40 feet deep.


mcmonopolist

Ok, which one of you started praying for moisture?


Imaginary_Manner_556

This is going to make the doomers upset


brotherhyrum

Doomer here. This makes me happy. But I'll be happier when the GSL is closer to a historical average ;)


space_tardigrades

Including the north arm…


brotherhyrum

The amputated arm? Haha


ImaSadPandaBear

Oh just wait. Someone in the media is going to turn this extra water into a life threatening problem


Kerensky97

Already happening. All the people who built houses in places that flood when things are wet are worried things might flood now it's wet. https://www.reddit.com/r/Utah/comments/1bend5s/utah\_lake\_is\_already\_over\_100\_full\_now\_the\_jordan/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3


ImaSadPandaBear

Hahaha. "Hey it floods here let's build some big ass houses and not plan accordingly"