For anyone confused, acceleration is defined as any change in velocity over time. Velocity takes into account both speed and direction. A change in velocity can be either be speeding up (gas pedal), slowing down (brake pedal), or changing direction (steering wheel). Hence, all three are a form of acceleration.

35 years ago was 1987 which was when the Salt Lake recorded some of its highest water levels in recorded history. The volume it had them came after years of abnormally heavy precipitation. If you're gonna compare how much it's lost, compare to the average, not the record high.

A bit hyperbolous to say nearly all dried up, but the water line has receded quite a lot. It's a very shallow body of water so it doesn't take much volume loss to see a large difference in surface area. The lake is still mostly there by volume, but we certainly need to continue taking action to alleviate it's current trajectory.