#11: The Shrinking Perimeter of the Great Salt Lake
The old shoreline is now a long walk from the water in many places. Utah’s terminal lake has no outlet to the sea, so its size responds directly to water entering through rivers and precipitation, water diverted for human use, and evaporation from the surface. The south arm reached a record-low elevation in 2022, then recovered somewhat during wetter periods. As of early July 2026, it stood near 4,191.1 feet, still far below levels associated with a healthier, broader lake and even slightly below the old 1963 record benchmark.
