Utah mountain soil moisture hit a mid-October record after Rachel

Utah’s statewide mountain soil moisture reached 64.2% on Oct. 15 after rain from Tropical Storm Rachel, KSL reported. The reading was 5.1 percentage points above the previous mid-October high in the 20-year Natural Resources Conservation Service record cited by the outlet. It was also 2.7 percentage points below the reported meteorological-fall record.

The high soil-moisture reading came alongside other indicators that remained below their comparisons. Statewide reservoir storage stood at 48% of capacity, 8 percentage points below the median for the start of the water year, according to KSL. The U.S. Drought Monitor assessment published Oct. 15 classified 71.4% of Utah’s area as being in severe or worse drought.

Rainfall varied across Utah i

KSL reported that the NRCS network of 114 monitoring sites gained an average of 3 inches of precipitation after Rachel’s arrival. The outlet reported at least 7.5 inches at Big Mountain and Mount Timpanogos Divide, and 7 inches in the Pine Valley Mountains. Those site totals describe precipitation recorded in mountain areas; they are separate from the statewide soil-moisture percentage.

In Salt Lake City, KUER reported 1.25 inches of rain at the airport and 2.47 inches at the University of Utah campus. Those local totals provide additional detail on rainfall in the city, but do not represent statewide conditions.

The drought assessment predates the end of the stormy weather i

The Oct. 15 Drought Monitor map is based on observations valid Oct. 13 at 8 a.m. Eastern time. KSL noted that those observations were collected before the stormy weather had fully subsided. The 71.4% figure therefore describes the assessment’s date, not a measurement taken after all of Rachel’s rain had passed. It was lower than the 92.2% reported for the previous month and about 5 percentage points lower than the prior week.

The indicators measure different parts of Utah’s water conditions. Soil moisture records water held in mountain soils, while reservoir storage measures the water in reservoirs against capacity. Utah’s water year runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, and the Utah Division of Water Resources has described late-fall mountain soil moisture as relevant to spring runoff.

The Oct. 15 figures do not establish how much of the moisture will reach reservoirs, what the coming winter’s snowpack will be, or whether future reservoir levels will change. They show a record-high mid-October soil-moisture reading alongside below-median reservoir storage and continued severe drought across much of Utah’s land area.