1. Utah’s Geography Notes

2. Utah’s Climate
Climate is the “average” weather of a place measured over a long period of time.
Has this week’s weather been a good average for Utah’s climate?
Snow does not often build up in the valleys, but it does pile up deeply in the mountains!
Even if it seems like we have a lot of snow in the mountains, it takes about a foot of snow to equal an inch of rain.

3. Utah’s Climate (continued)
The growing season is shorter in Northern Utah because the cold winters are longer
St. George has a longer growing season than Farmington

4. Our Water Supply Google Earth!
Most of our water comes more than 600 miles across California and Nevada from the Pacific Ocean.
We in the valleys receive about inches of rain per year
Deserts get less than 10
Farmington is not a desert, but it’s close – it is a steppe climate.

5. Precipitation is a fancy word for rain and snow.

6. Our Water Supply (continued)
Orographic Lifting –

7. Our Water Supply (continued)
Good point of orographic lifting: The Wasatch Range causes the the clouds to precipitate on us and on the mountains – where we store it in reservoirs!
Bad point: There isn’t much water left in the clouds when they get to us.

8. Our Water Supply (continued)
Most rivers in Utah flow to either the Great Salt Lake or to the Colorado River (and from the Colorado eventually to the Pacific Ocean.)

9. Utah’s Plant and Animal Life
Indigenous – a plant or animal native to an area
Imported – a plant or animal brought to an area by man

10. Utah’s Plant and Animal Life
Indigenous plants
sagebrush
grasses
dwarf oak
willows
creosote bush
mesquite
Joshua trees
Imported plants
wheat
palm trees
fruit trees
tomatoes

11. Utah’s Plant and Animal Life
Indigenous Animals
deer
bear
bobcats
coyotes
cougars
buffalo
rainbow trout
Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge makes a great summer home for migrating birds