Overview
The Great Salt Lake is a terminal lake in the Salt Lake Valley and is the remains of Lake Bonneville that existed in the area around 30,000 years ago.
In 2021 the lake reached its (as of then) historical low level of 4190.2 feet above sea level. However, in 2022 that record was broken again. The minimum healthy level of the lake is considered to be 4198 feet above sea level which corresponds to a lake area of ~817k acres (1276 square miles) and a lake volume of ~13.2 million acre feet. The current elevation (as of February 2023) represents a ~27% loss of lake bed coverage (206k acres/322 square miles) and a ~42% loss of lake volume (~4.9 million acre feet). Source for north and south arm areas and volumes.
The lake drying up represents a large public health, environmental, and economical blow to the Salt Lake Valley and has received a lot of media attention in time surrounding the historical lows.
