Sophie Carmona

08/07/2021
Clinton Schmidt
ATOM 1020/ Climate Change

How temperature is rising and affecting Utah.

As we all know the earth is heating up year by year and is affecting us in different ways
depending on where we live. Utah’s mountains have decreased in the amount of snowfall we get
each year in winter. “ Robert Gillies, Director of Utah Climate Center, said in an interview. The
climatologist and his fellow researchers studied the weather pattern in Utah's winter and found
that the statewide snowfall has decreased by nine percent over a half-century, more so at
lower elevations.” (Gillies, 2017) Without much snowfall here in Utah it impacts the amount of
water we get for the entire year like our rivers. With the temperature rising lots of our lakes
decrease in size and decrease the amount of water we use for irrigation, then following that we
have to use that amount of water to use on crops where we get our supply of food. “ Most of
Utah’s water is used by the agriculture industry. In recent years, the legislature has made some
attempt to make agricultural water consumption more efficient. In 2019, they passed a bill
creating a grant program to fund agriculture water optimization projects. In 2021, lawmakers
added an additional $3 million in funding to the program.” (Porter 2021)
This year we’re limited to the amount of water we can use in our homes because of the
little amount of water that the mountains gave us this year. With there being a drought here in
Utah the sightseeing parks that are famous here such as, Zion National Park, The Arches, Bryce
Canyon, etc; aren’t very amusing to see on summer vacations with family because of the little
amounts of water that comes around through the year depending on how much snow we get.
With national parks getting affected pretty bad in these couple of months in the year it can just
give one’s prediction of how it would look like down the line if the climate is still increasing by
then. “Utah is of the driest states in the country and the fastest growing state. We’re going to
have to get creative with our response. “This requires a variety of solutions,” says Haskell. “As
much as we want to say ‘if everyone conserves we’ll be fine,’ we will have to find new sources,
work on efficiency and conserve.” (Porter, 2021)
Another factor to the increasing temperatures is the number of wildfires that spark up
either here in Utah or other states. One way or another wildfires can impact not just one area but
others as well with winds pushing the smoke to different areas around the United States. It
impacts the community as wildlife from the thick smoke that we have to breathe through. On top
of that Utah’s air quality isn’t always the best because of the emissions that we emit, “ “We are
seeing high ozone earlier [in the year] than we have in the past. With the high temperatures,
we’ve had ozone exceedances over the past couple weeks, even today,” Bird said Tuesday.
“Clearly we have an ozone problem in the state. We are certainly not claiming otherwise.”Under
the Clean Air Act, a non-attainment area may avoid reclassification if regulators can demonstrate
that the area would have met the ozone standard, “but for” the influence of pollution from
international sources, according to Bird. Utah’s request for such consideration is the first from a
non-border state.” ( Maffly 2017)
Sophie Carmona
08/07/2021
Clinton Schmidt
ATOM 1020/ Climate Change

Concluding the effects that climate change can do just to one state can very well be the
same for other states or even far worse. Just with the earth warming up a couple of degrees it can
severely damage everywhere in different ways such as flooding, wildfires, droughts, heatwaves,
freezing temperatures, and the list goes on. “ Greenhouse gases are also changing the world’s
oceans and ice cover. Carbon dioxide reacts with water to form carbonic acid, so the oceans are
becoming more acidic.” (EPA 2016) As time progresses ways of living need to change in order
to sustain a normal way of living and stop the incoming damage that will happen if no action is
taken.

References:

-, C. P., By, -, & Porter, C. (2021, July 10). A summer Without SPRINKLERS? The UTAH
Drought emergency • Salt Lake Magazine. Salt Lake Magazine.
https://www.saltlakemagazine.com/utah-drought-emergency/.

Wang, S. (2018, September 7). What happened to Utah's WINTER? Standard.

https://www.standard.net/news/environment/what-happened-to-utahs-winter/article_cb0e23
54-b276-11e8-8797-5fc734f4bfc3.html.

Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). EPA. https://www.epa.gov/climate-change.

Wildfires and climate change. Alliance for a Better Utah. (2018, July 12).
https://betterutah.org/wildfires-and-climate-change/.

Utah's response to ozone pollution PROBLEM? Blame China. The Salt Lake Tribune.
(2021, June 23).
https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2021/06/23/utahs-response-ozone/.
Sophie Carmona
08/07/2021
Clinton Schmidt
ATOM 1020/ Climate Change