Great Salt Lake hits 175-year low

 Axios

Boat docks sit on dry, cracked earth at the Great Salt Lake's Antelope Island Marina near Syracuse, Utah, last August. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The Great Salt Lake this weekend dropped below the 175-year low set last October, the Utah Department of Natural Resources announced.

• "This is not the type of record we like to break," DNR executive director Joel Ferry said. "It's clear the lake is in trouble."

Why it matters: The West's megadrought, worsened by climate change, is shrinking the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi — and the largest salt-water lake in the Western Hemisphere.

• Water has also been diverted for homes and crops in the fast-growing Beehive State.

The lake level will likely continue to decrease until fall or early winter, the state said.

• Records date back to 1847.