SLC is on track for the warmest December, when GSL needs snow most. 

Abnormally heavy snowfall in the winters of 2023 and 2024 brought a glimmer of hope for Great Salt Lake. This winter is looking much different, however, as Salt Lake City just had the warmest December on record.

We know weather alone is not going to be enough to save us from the health and environmental outcomes of so much lakebed being exposed. 

This is where the climate crisis can be impossible to ignore. Upstream diversions are the factor in Great Salt Lake’s decline that we can immediately address. But the climate crisis’ influence must also be addressed. 

The last month isn’t a stand-alone phenomenon. A CBS report shows that “2025 was so hot it pushed Earth past the critical climate change mark.” Researchers said some of the heat waves they studied in 2025 were 10 times more likely than they would have been a decade ago due to climate change.

UPHE’s Climate Ambassador, Dr. Mark Goldfarb, said, “As we enter the new calendar year, Utah’s snowpack has reached historically low levels, not seen since 1981. Record breaking temperatures in both November and December has led to the melting of snow at lower elevations and more precipitation falling as rain rather than snow. At the end of December, while mountain precipitation was approximately 103% of the median average, snowpack was just 52%. Our snowpack supplies approximately 95% of Utah’s water. The implications for our agriculture can seem very dire. The Lake Powell reservoir has dropped approximately 36 feet and sits at only 27% capacity which could limit its ability to generate hydroelectric power. Utah had experienced >1150 wildfires in 2025 partially due to the low snowpack from last season and serious drought conditions in a vast majority (80%) of the state in to September. The state experienced its warmest autumn since 1895 and the higher temperatures contributed to drying out vegetation and brush making them possible victims for more fires.

Utah can start by opposing fossil fuel and polluting projects in the state. So far, this is not the tone we have taken, supporting proposals for the Uinta Basin Railway which aims to increase oil output from Utah, and streamlining industrial development like from the Utah Inland Port which includes wetlands areas.