Statewide Stream Temperature

    Statewide Stream Temperature

    The year 2015 has been the hottest year on record. Air temperature can have an effect on a variety of things, such as plants, animals, and entire ecosystems.

    On the left is a graph showing the change in mean global air temperature from land surfaces. Data was provided by NASA.

    Higher air temperature can lead to increases in the water temperature of streams. We wanted to look at Utah Water Watch volunteer data to see if we saw a similar pattern of increased stream temperature throughout the state. On the right is a graph displaying this. Despite the rising temperature, the streams in Utah as a whole appear to not have not been affected. Below is a graph that consists of over 1,500 water temperature readings collected from 2013 to 2015. 

    mean global air temp

    utah stream temp

    red dot

    Average Stream Temperature (June-September)

    2013 2014 2015
    16.7°C 15.5°C 16.5°C