‘Unusual amount of snow’ means some seasonal roads will likely remain closed past Memorial Day
ST. GEORGE — As people start making plans for the Memorial Day weekend, given the higher than average snowpack over this winter, the Utah Department of Transportation recently announced that many seasonal roads in the state will be open later than usual.
“Fifteen to 20-foot accumulations of snow will likely not be melted sufficiently to have these roads opened by Memorial Day, as has been customary,” UDOT officials said on their Facebook page. “This includes Guardsman Pass, the Mirror Lake Highway and Monte Cristo.”
Officials said that from Utah County to the south, UDOT crews are expecting to have all seasonal roads open by Memorial Day.
“This includes Wolf Creek Pass, the Alpine Loop, Cedar Breaks and Mt. Holly Junction Road.”
The status of Utah’s seasonal roads was last updated on May 13 and can be found here.
While the snowpack may impede some holiday travels, all of the precipitation has made this a banner year for water levels. As opposed to last winter, which water officials characterized as “abysmal,” a water supply outlook report released at the beginning of April stated that snowpack in Utah is 140 percent above normal.
“Our streamflow runoff forecasts suggest that there is a very good chance that most small to medium-size reservoirs will fill this year, and we can expect substantial improvement in water storage at our larger reservoirs,” the report states.
Read more: ‘This is a great water year’: Water officials pleased with water supply outlook