“Normally I wouldn't be too upset with temps in the low 80s in the valleys with 50s and 60s in the mountains this time of year, but we are in extraordinary circumstances this year. We've never been this dry.”

“How dry? Since July 1, the Alta co-op observer has recorded just 0.52" of precipitation. We have reliable records there going back about 50 years. The next driest year prior to this year was 1988 when we had 1.66" thru October 10. It doesn't look like we will see any additional precip between now and then. That means that the next driest such period was over 300% wetter than this year. Just to give you further idea how dry we've been, even if we had seen 4" of precip (which is 8x as much), we'd still be in the top 5 driest such periods on record. I'm not an arborologist, but I have to think that some of the trees in the Wasatch are undergoing severe strain due to lack of water and hotter than normal temps.”