(Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun), How Denver is spending the $41M from the Broncos sale, (720) 263-2338 Call, text, Signal or WhatsApp, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. A 59% flow into Powell translates to about 3.8 million acre-feet. Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Geological Survey for comment. Click for Details, Current Snowpack Conditions for Upper Colorado Basin. hbbd``b`$WX)! 15 Day Weather Forecast In water year 2021 unregulated inflow volume to Lake Powell was 3.50 maf (36 percent of average), the second driest year on record above 2002. 15 Day Weather Forecast SW Satellite Weather SW Water Vapor Lake Powell is down 6.18 feet from one year ago. The forecast estimated that the amount of water that will flow into Lake Powell this spring and summer will be about 59% of average, based on 30 years of data from 1991 to 2020. View CFS Last 14 Measurements Lake Powell is down -1.03 feet over these measurements Averages for February 27th Last 10 February 27th's data records Wang suggests updating the reference period more frequently or using the last 20 years as the baseline. water-data.com LakePowell Water Database . 2022, a day after Southern California delared a water . Level 3 Shortage Condition 1,025 ft and below Elevation 1,090 ft Elevation 1,045 ft Historical Future SW Satellite Weather That reference period is updated once a decade; it now begins in the 1990s. But the declining water already has drained some of the fun, he said. Much of that water. At the beginning of water year 2023, total system storage in the Colorado River Basin was 19.54 maf (33 percent of 58.48 maf total system capacity). Combined with water withdrawals that many believe are not sustainable, the drought has caused a dramatic drop in Lake Powells water level. We need to get ourselves prepared," he says. This is the big warning bell.. %%EOF Precipitation declines combined with booming urban populations will present a significant challenge to Western water managers in the near future. google_color_border = "FFFFFF"; 04:18 . In July 2022, the lake reached a historic low of 1,040 feet above sea level. 0.523 maf in Lake Powell from December 2022 through April 2023. google_color_bg = "FFFFFF"; Federal and state water managers have watched the water level in Lake Powell closely this year. There is approximately an 80 percent probability that a future elevation will fall inside the range of the minimum and maximum inflow scenarios. That projection is about 12 feet higher than the 2023 end-of-year mark in the bureau's forecast from December. The forecast is changing daily and there are still a lot of variables, said Lisa Meiman, a spokeswoman for WAPA. n$L{Z. google_color_border = "FFFFFF"; The annual release volume from Lake Powell during water year 2023 will be 7.77 maf under the Lower Elevation Balancing Tier and will balance the contents between Powell and Mead with annual release volumes from Glen Canyon Dam between 7.00 maf and 9.50 maf as determined under Section 6.D.1 and 7.D of the Interim Guidelines as determined by the Department of the Interior as described above. The final NOAA forecast for the season predicts the amount of water to reach Lake Powell this year to be about 60% of average. But the region is battling a multidecade drought with rain harder to come by. Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. According to Reclamation, there is a 27% chance that Powell will still stop generating electricity completely over the next four years. This was the lowest water levels have been since the lake was first constructed in the 1930s. There are continued discussions when and how that same amount of water (0.523 maf) will be . Snow levels will fall to the lowest locations Wednesday night into Thursday morning, before the storm exits eastern Arizona Thursday afternoon. By 2002, the lake level had dropped far enough that the exposed canyon walls created a pale outline around the lake. We are 37% through the Water Year. Water Summary Today is day 136 of 365 for the Water Year 2023. The bureau, in consultation with tribal nations and the seven Colorado River Basin states, decided to keep nearly 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell that had originally been planned to be released to the Lower Basin states of Nevada, Arizona and California this year. "As a result of this update, the median water year 2022 inflow forecast into Lake Powell decreased by 800,000 acre-feet," USBR stated in a press release distributed Thursday. google_color_link = "0000FF"; The period 2000-2022 is the lowest 23-year period since the closure of Glen Canyon Dam in 1963, with an average unregulated inflow of 8.29 maf, or 93 percent of the 30-year average (1991-2020). The NOAA forecast center begins releasing monthly water supply forecasts for the Colorado River Basin in December. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Wind affected on the west and south facing aspects of the Gore Range seen on, April 7, 2022, near Vail. Lake Powell water level at Wahweap Marina in September 2021 | Photo by Bureau of Reclamation, St. George News . A powerful winter storm will enter AZ early Tuesday night with rain and snow showers increasing across the region after midnight. Projections at Lake Mead show there is a chance as high as 66% that water levels will decline to 1,025 feet by 2025, triggering a Tier 3 Shortage. google_ad_channel ="2397569894"; Both Moser and Lukas said that dry soil moisture conditions across the Colorado River Basin, which can sponge off valuable runoff before the water makes it into rivers and streams, wont be quite as bad as last year but will still be a negative factor. These projections are critical for planning for an increasingly dry future in the Colorado River Basin, but a new paper from Utah State University says the model may still underestimate the risk. //2006-10-04: news In addition to the February 2023 24-Month Study based on the Most Probable inflow scenario, and in accordance with the Drought Response Operational Agreement (DROA)), Reclamation has conducted model runs in February to determine a possible range of reservoir elevations. //-->, Printable Version CNN's Bill Weir has more. google_ad_width = 160; :pNB/gb2D0p6Ecb :qD_q7wE42TOOSW:Oa^(-]p7y|iZ.8uq:}1y3bJ]!G ) ytRdJp2 +[|}QpEU}V'k{yeKud"xl_-x lJ!UZ`,n!\3{dcb She reported that, as of March 16, 2022, Lake Powell was at an elevation of 3,524.83 feet (ft.) with storage of 5.916 million acre-feet (maf) or 24 percent of capacity. Were an initiative of theCenter for Environmental Journalismat the University of Colorado Boulder. Lake Powells side branches had all retreated compared to the previous years extents. Antelope Point Marina on Feb. 3, 2022, in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area near Page. As of Tuesday, February 28th, 2023 where elevation was 3521.04', Copyright Summit Technologies, Inc.1999 - 2023Site Views Today: 0Page Views Today: 0, The 28 tracked reservoirs above Lake Powell are currently at 58.69% of capacity. The end of January elevation and storage of Lake Powell were 3,523.45 feet (177 feet from full pool) and 5.45 million acre-feet (maf) (23 percent of live capacity), respectively. 0 However, these responses can have a noticeable impact on the river downstream of Glen Canyon Dam. google_color_bg = "FFFFFF"; Part of the Glen Canyon Conservancy Family, Utah D.O.T Charles Hall Ferry for UT Route 276. google_color_url = "426C95"; The forecast isnt great, said Kyle Whitaker, Colorado River Manager for the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, one of the largest diverters of water in the headwaters region of the river. The water levels at Lake Powell have dropped around 100 feet in the last three years. At the same time, electric utilities across the West are looking for other green options and hoping that hydropower production wont stop altogether. The DROA coordination will continue until either (i) the minimum probable projected elevation remains above 3,525 feet for 24 months or (ii) the process moves to the next step when the most probable projected elevation indicates Powell elevations below 3,525 feet and a Drought Response Operations Plan is developed. Click for . In the early 21st century, this modern marvel of engineering faced an ancient enemy: prolonged drought in the American Southwest. //-->, Printable Version Previous forecasts showed this was possible and the Bureau of Reclamation announced on March 4 that a . google_ad_width = 160; The probable minimum inflow scenario reflects a dry hydrologic condition which statistically would be exceeded 90 percent of the time. From there, a swing to the northeast delivers boats into Lake Powell's main artery. Correction: This article has been corrected to indicate that Lake Powell began filling 59 years ago, not 60 years, as the original article stated. As air warms over time, less precipitation makes it to the reservoirs due to evaporation. This 2022 Plan is described above and available for review here: https://www.usbr.gov/dcp/droa.html. " 9`SADP zg Ab``#@ 7 3 Note that projections of elevation and storage for water year 2023 have significant uncertainty at this point in the season. Across most of the streams and rivers of the Upper Basin, forecasted runoff ranges from very poor (50% of average) to mediocre (80% of average).. The bureau also announced it would release an additional 500,000 acre-feet of water from Flaming Gorge reservoir in Wyoming to further raise the water level at Powell. She grew up in Tucson, Arizona, where she fell in love with the ecology and geology of the Sonoran desert. But the 30-year period is the standard reference worldwide and captures more variability, according to Paul Miller of the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center. Lake Powell