What many would hope was an April Fool’s Day joke is anything but, as Utah has recorded its lowest-ever snowpack conditions as of April 1. In a special report issued Friday, the Natural Resources Conservation Service said that at no point since measurements began in 1930 has the snowpack been as low in Utah. The report was issued ahead of what is expected to be a dismal Water Supply Outlook Report. The agency called the 2026 snowpack “truly unprecedented,” with the next lowest having been recorded in 2015, but it was approximately five times higher than the current snowpack conditions.

Other snowpack news around the West:

• SFGate: California faces first sign of a new drought
• Tahoe Daily Tribune (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.): What Tahoe’s warm spells will spell for California
• Nevada Current: April starts with record low snowpack in Northern Nevada, water managers prepare
• This Is Reno (Nev.): TMWA: No drought reserves needed in 2026 despite low snowpack​
• Aspen Times (Colo.): It’s official: This is Colorado’s worst snowpack year on record, as some mountain areas start April snowless for first time ever
• KSL (Salt Lake City): Utah breaks record for lowest April snowpack in nearly a century by ‘a wide margin’
• California WaterBlog (UC Davis): California and the West’s current snow drought in a long-term context: key points for researchers