Winter in Utah dry, warm, well below average

PAUL FOY
Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Federal water supply officials say Utah's unusually dry winter shows no sign of turning around halfway through the season.

The trend is bad news for skiers and a threat to future water supplies for agriculture.

The latest report from the National Resources Conservation Service says snowpack is as little as 51 percent of average in the mountains east of Beaver for this time of the year.

The statewide snow-water equivalent figure works out to 68 percent of normal.

Mountain streams are expected to carry as little as 42 percent of normal snowmelt this spring.

The National Resources Conservation Service is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that conducts the Utah Snow Survey.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)