Utah County is in a drought, but faucets and spigots will flow all summer thanks to brimming reservoirs.

Snowpack in the Provo River drainage, which supplies drinking and irrigation water to northern Utah Valley, is at its lowest point in a decade, said several state and local water officials on Thursday. Snow levels at the headwaters of the Provo River are only 52 percent of average.

A very low spring runoff is expected, said Keith Denos of the Provo River Water Users Association.

The good news is that reservoirs are full, thanks to wet winters over the past two years, said Harley Gillman, president of the Provo Reservoir Water Users Company. That means there should be no water shortages this summer.

"We are probably OK because the reservoirs are filling well, but we are hurting at the upper Provo River, and Trial Lake, which is the headwaters of the Provo River," he said. "I understand the snowpack is half of what is should be."

"If we didn't have reservoirs, then it would be a whole different story," said Daryl Devey of the Central Utah Water Conservancy District, who noted that Jordanelle, Deer Creek, and Utah Lake will all be at or near full after the spring runoff. The reservoirs and lake are used for drinking water, residential pressurized irrigation, and irrigation for farms in Provo, Orem and many cities in north Utah County.

That "paints a pretty rosy picture, but if it weren't for those reservoirs, I would be speaking doom and gloom," he said. "The reservoirs are really important. Without that carry-over storage we couldn't survive in the desert."

It is impossible to predict whether this drought pattern will continue next winter, but if it did, "we would be pretty cautious at that point," he said. "You always get nervous when it's as bad as this year."

It is also impossible to foresee whether the low snowpack means Utah's seven-year drought, which ended in 2005, is returning, said Randy Julander of the National Resources Conservation Service. There is only a 3 percent chance that snow levels will return to average between now and April 1.

On the positive side, there is an 80-90 percent chance that snow levels will rise at least a little from the current low level before April 1, he said.

"If you get no snow, you ain't going to get any water," Julander said.

Residents may "whine and cry big alligator tears," he said, but it will be reservoirs, not pleading, that will save cities from shortages.

Warm and dry weather from now through summer "would be the worst of all possible situations," he said.

"Temperatures have warmed up considerably in Utah Valley this week," said David James, overseer of the Brigham Young University weather station. "Some bench locations have actually reached into the lower 60s while most other spots have been in the 50s."

Springville hit 58 degrees on Thursday, breaking the old record for Feb. 8 of 57 degrees, which was set in 2000, he said. The mountain resorts have cooled back to the 30s for highs instead of the 40s and 50s those areas saw last week.

A moist westerly flow will bring an increasing chance of valley rain and mountain snow through early next week, he said.

"The best chances for precipitation will be Friday night and late Saturday through early Sunday," he said. "High temperatures will remain above normal with valley highs in the 40s and 50s. Significant snow will likely be confined to elevations above 7,000 feet and will be good for the mountains."

Caleb Warnock can be reached at 443-3263 or cwarnock@heraldextra.com.

Current and historic percent of normal water in snowpack for the Provo River Drainage on Feb. 8. (National Resources Conservation Service data):

2007: 52%

2006: 133%

2005: 131%

2004: 106%

2003: 58%

2002: 93%

2001: 60%

2000: 66%

1999: 75%

1998: 90%

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.