New research from the University of Utah reveals how dust from the dry Great Salt Lake bed is picked up by wind and deposited on snowfields in the Wasatch Mountains. That dust hastens the snowmelt, which reduces the mountain snowpack.
That reduced snowpack means less melted snow flowing out of the canyons and, eventually, to the lake.
Less water in the lake exposes more lake bed, meaning even more dust can be picked up to melt even more snowpack. Meanwhile, the smaller lake will produce fewer “lake effect” storms, further reducing the snow that falls in the first place.