"On a recent flight home to Salt Lake City, I gazed out the window and shuddered. The ground below was riddled with cracks. Sporadic green pools dotted the dry earth where vast water had once been.I was flying over what used to be an outlying stretch of the Great Salt Lake — the largest lake west of the Mississippi River. Growing up, I used to row there with my crew team. I came to love the brilliant sunsets, along with the migratory birds that stopped there each year.This was not the lake I once knew.For years, Great Salt Lake has been shrinking due to water overuse and rising temperatures. It has gone from a high of 3,300 square miles in the 1980s to a record low of 888 square miles in 2022. Though a few years of heavy precipitation have helped, it is still in grave danger. Without meaningful change, the lake could vanish altogether in a matter of years.This is not just a disaster for Utah, where the lake is a cornerstone — it could have wide-reaching impacts that could reach New England."
Shared from -> https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/14/magazine/great-salt-lake-sparks-new-england-concern/
Last August, I also shared an article on the disappearing Great Salt Lake -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2024/08/utahs-great-salt-lake-rings-climate.html
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| The Great Salt Lake, near Salt Lake City, Utah, has lost more than 70% of its water. Photograph: Rick Bowmer/AP |
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