The first three weeks of Utah’s 2026 water year have been “outstanding,” but state water managers warn that there’s plenty of ground to make up from the previous water year.

“Yes, we can all collectively say ‘we needed this’ as we think about the recent storms and our water supply. The recent storms are a great start to the water year, but we have a long road ahead,” said Candice Hasenyager, director at the Utah Division of Water Resources, in a state drought update on Tuesday.

Utah collected an average of 3.2 inches of precipitation across 115 mountain sites in the state since the water year began on Oct. 1 — more than double the median average of the past 30 years and less than an inch shy of the record since it was tracked in the 1980s, per Utah Natural Resources Conservation Service

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