"Then came an unexpected deluge of rain and snow in the winters of 2023 and 2024. The amount of land covered by the Great Salt Lake has since grown about 150 square miles—an area the size of Denver—and the overall water level has risen 6 feet.

Similar aquatic comebacks are occurring across the West. The mountain snowpack that feeds the Colorado River, which provides water to 40 million people, is 107% of average this winter after hitting 153% in 2023, marking the wettest two-year period in more than a decade."