SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's capital city received only 0.3 of an inch of snowfall in January, the fourth smallest amount on record, giving residents clear roads, spring-like temperatures and keeping the worst of seasonal air pollution at bay.

The good news: There is still snowpack in the mountains with high water content.

"We're going to be OK in the mountains. The storms that we've gotten have had a lot of water in them," KSL meteorologist Kevin Eubank said. "If it stops right now, we're in big trouble. But if it keeps coming the way it's come so far, it's OK. "

The only years with less snow in January were in 2003 with just a trace and 0.1 of an inch in both 1961 and in 1919. Eubank also said Salt Lake City had its warmest January in nine years.

Snowpack

Snowpack is currently 82 percent of average.

"Precipitation is lower than average, but the snow water is higher," Eubank said. "What that means is that there's actually more water in the snow than what we would typically see."

Randy Julander, snow survey supervisor for the Natural Resource Conservation Service, said Utah is behind in snowpack but there is no need to panic.

"The sky isn't falling, so to speak, at this point," he said. "Now if we were to have a repeat of January, which was atrocious as far as snow accumulation is concerned, we'd be singing a much different song at that point."

If February and March have the same amount of precipitation as January, Julander said the snowpack average would drop to about 50 percent. He said the warm weather has affected the snow melt by melting the snowpack at lower elevations.

"They're gone," Julander said. "And they're not likely to regenerate at this point."

"Normally at this time of year, snowpacks are exceptionally cold," Julander said. That means snow takes longer to melt during spring. But this year snow density is high.

"The bottom line is it won't take as much energy to make these snow packs melt," Julander said.

Inversion

The warm weather has also had an effect on air quality. Eubank said the valley has inversions when cold air is trapped below high pressure.

"You need moisture in that low level," he said. "If you don't have any moisture, the particulate don't have anything to attach to."

Bryce Bird, air quality director for the Department of Environmental Quality, said this winter has seen inversions and temperatures that would really drive a strong inversion.

"But this year we just haven't seen the cold temperature at the valley floor which would lock (poor air) in," he said. In past years, snow on the ground keeps the valley floor air cold.

"The good news is it's been a below normal year for snow plow, below normal year for bad air quality days, and they all do kind of go hand in hand," Eubank said.

Bird said the best scenario for good air quality and a plentiful snowpack is snow in the mountains and rain in the valley.

Remaining Season

"The trend moving forward looks to be warmer than normal, and at least normal precipitation," Eubank said.

The average amount of snowfall in Salt Lake City for February is 10.7 inches with 6.5 in March and 4 inches in April, he said.

So about 20 inches of snow are expected to fall in the valley over the next three months.

"We will still see snow," he said. "Not Boston snow, not Northeast snow."

Julander said Utah reservoir storage is doing well with about 60 percent capacity in most parts of the state.

Eubank said the most disastrous scenario would be if there were rain in the mountains.

"It would melt the snowpack. It would take our snow levels down," he said.

Contributing: Jed Boal

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