Was that when the pumps were built on the Nevada border to get water out of the drainage if needed? The shallowness of the lake makes it different to think about than lake most people are used to. It is more of a big puddle, as a kid being told it was ~30 feet deep at the deepest was hard to believe since I was used to smaller lakes deeper than 100 feet.

The idea that the lake could drain seems scary to me since the lake effect helps to increase the amount of snow in the Wasatch. Without the lake, would the Wasatch front look like other basins to the West?

It is worth noting that the Salt lake drainage basin is closed but through the Central Utah Project some of the Colorado basin water is claimed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Utah_Project

This summer I listened to an interview with a guy who paddled around the lake, it was interesting to hear since so much of the lake was more theoretical to me than real. Getting to the edge of the water in many parts wasn't possible or wasn't easy. https://bendingbranches.com/blogs/resources/kayaking-on-grea... https://radiowest.kuer.org/agriculture-and-the-environment/2...

Sorry, not all this was aimed at you but I figured I'd condense some thoughts into a single reply.

Yes, the pumps were built in the late 1980s and are still maintained, but have never been used for much of anything since then. I believe they ran for about two years. Also, the western edge of the lake (where the pumps are) is still about sixty miles from the Nevada border. Lots of empty salt flats to pump water on top of if that becomes necessary again someday.

I believe the general consensus is that the lake effect is marginal at best in terms of total precipitation received in the area.

I grew up very close to the lake. I'm well aware of the flooding that occurred. It indeed would have been better to use a satellite photo from 1989 when the pumps were shut off. I think the contrast is still pretty stark regardless [1].

1. See this youtube video which shows a photo from each year from 1984 - 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THg0AEV7nK8

And the comment section is filled with people saying that these changes are not so bad. I fear our fate is that of the boiling frog as the general population still appears overwhelmingly apathetic to global warming.