I said elsewhere in this thread that it only takes one good year, not several, to fill most of our reservoirs. That’s a positive statement. To say otherwise is negative and incorrect.
The toughest thing about this summer hasn’t been the obvious lack of rain. It has been the abnormally hot weather. Natural vegetation in Utah would require three to four times our normal monthly summer rainfall to deal with the high temperatures we’ve had.
I’m happy this fire season hasn’t been worse. It certainly could have been. Interestingly, the thing that increases fire hazard in the state isn’t just a hot, dry summer—it’s a hot dry summer preceded by a wet spring. A very wet spring leads to an abundance of grass that always dries out during summer—even in summers with above normal rainfall. I concede that this is a negative statement, but it’s true.