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Article: Blame jet stream for Utah drought
- Article from:
- Deseret News (Salt Lake City)
- Article date:
- May 28, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2003 Deseret News (Salt Lake City). Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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The cross section of a tree reveals growth rings, the oldest
records of rainfall. These rings show that on rare occasions,
droughts in Utah have lasted longer than a decade.
But that's certainly not typical. The average length of a drought
in this state is four years. And here we are in year No. 5.
What are the prospects for the future? A look at the past offers
some of the best clues.
The accompanying graph tracking precipitation in Utah for the past
107 years shows we are having our second-worst dry period in more
than a century.
Notice, though, how fast conditions can change and how steep the
rise is back to above normal. That means when it does start to storm,
it might be really wet for ...