National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

A Salt Lake City kid born in 2005 lived through hundreds more days of extreme heat during childhood than one born in 1975, says a new analysis. That’s changing the experience of growing up.

After a promising forecast, monsoon rains ghosted Utah for most of the summer. While the recent showers were a welcome relief, they couldn’t help the state climb out of its precipitation deficit.

Since 2000, heat has become the primary force behind how severe and widespread Western droughts get.

While officials in Kerr County, Texas, face scrutiny over the timeliness of flood alerts, an expert in Utah says the state is prepared when it comes to natural disasters.

Climate change is driving more dangerous summer heat across the U.S. Las Vegas, which reached 120 degrees last summer, is planting thousands of trees to help cool its hottest neighborhoods.

The timing and intensity of desert monsoons are notoriously hard to predict. But signs point toward some rainy relief for Utah communities in the grip of drought.

La Niña is over, but its counterpart, El Niño, hasn’t started either. The in-between conditions expected this summer may make predicting Utah’s seasonal weather extra tricky.

Utah’s drought conditions could deteriorate even more as temperatures start to climb. NOAA’s latest seasonal outlook expects above-average heat through July.

There was little respite from the heat in Utah last year, even with overnight lows. Salt Lake City, Bountiful, Provo and Kanab all saw their warmest minimum temperatures on record, too.

Scientists expect La Niña to start by the end of this year. That could fuel a drier-than-normal winter and spell trouble for Utah drought and snowmelt going into 2025.

From Salt Lake City to Brigham City to Cedar City, average temperatures were up both day and night over the summer. And according to forecasts, the above-average heat may not be over yet.

Utah State University is partnering with the National Integrated Heat Health Information System to continue to provide heat mapping data and improve forecasting accuracy.