lake mead

[porthos]

with a lot of the resiviors in calif. getting full; i don't understand why lake mead is becoming in peril of getting lower in level??

[Electrod47]

Mead's water mostly comes from The Rocky Mountains run off, not near as much as coastal California has been blessed with.

[imashooter2]

I thought Lake Mead was recovering? Still well below full pool, but up significantly.

[BLAHUT]

If you leave the plug out of the bathtub, it will never get full.

[MUSTANG]

The snow pack is above average in the Colorado River Drainage areas.

• The snowpack in the Upper Colorado River Basin was at 133 percent of the 30-year historical average as of Monday,
• In the latest projections released in February, forecasters said they expect Lake Powell to receive about 117 percent of its average inflows this year. If that holds true, it would mark just the sixth time since 2011 that inflows into Lake Powell were above average.

Lake Meade 2023 water level will depend on how much water each of the States take from Lake Powell, the Colorado River upstream, and from Lake Meade - as well as how much is sent downstream to generate electricity. I anticipate they will celebrate the Record 2023 Snow Pack and take even more water from the Colorado River Basin.

https://yournews.com/2023/02/28/2524...ost-lake-mead/

It’s not even March yet, but the mountains that feed the Colorado River already have seen more snow this winter than they normally would through an entire snow season.

And with some snow in the forecast, there’s still more time for that snowpack to grow.
“For the West in general, this year has been really great,” said Paul Miller, service coordination hydrologist with the National Weather Service’s Colorado Basin River Forecast Center in Salt Lake City. “This is probably the wettest year we’ve had since 2011.”

The snowpack in the Upper Colorado River Basin was at 133 percent of the 30-year historical average as of Monday, and sits at 101 percent of what the basin has received on average through an entire season.
The basin’s snowpack typically peaks around the first week of April — about five to six weeks from now —and then begins to melt and flow downstream into Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona border through July.

“For us to hit it this early in the season is a nice, beneficial sign for the region as a whole,” Miller said.
February started off fairly dry for the region, but a series of storms that came up from the southern Pacific Ocean over the last week brought significant moisture to the basin. Miller said forecasters expect “pretty active weather patterns” to swing through the river basin over the next five days, which should only help to pad those snowpack numbers.

In recent years, hotter temperatures and drier soils have led to worsening runoff efficiency in the basin, meaning that even average snow years still led to below-average amounts of water flowing into the river.
But the region saw storms in the late fall that helped improve those soils and helped set up a better runoff scenario for this year’s snow, Miller said. The soils are still drier than normal in several parts of the basin, but Miller said he is still optimistic that the basin should see an above-average amount of water flowing into the river this spring and summer.

“It’s still a possibility, but I think us getting to the point of seeing below-normal runoff is becoming less and less of a possibility,” Miller said.

In the latest projections released in February, forecasters said they expect Lake Powell to receive about 117 percent of its average inflows this year. If that holds true, it would mark just the sixth time since 2011 that inflows into Lake Powell were above average. And three of those were just barely above that mark, he added.

The hefty snow season won’t be nearly enough to end the two-decades-long drought or refill the river system that some 40 million Americans rely upon. But it looks to be enough to at least somewhat stem the bleeding levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell, where drought and chronic overuse have sent the two reservoirs to historic low marks in recent months.

[imashooter2]

6th time above average in 12 years sounds sort of… average.

[alfadan]

Of course California gets bailed-out again

[rbuck351]

If the present trend continues and lake mead gets low enough there will be no bail out for California. That will be very interesting.

[deces]

Mexico is guaranteed a certain amount of the Colorado river water every year, I'm not saying that they are a part of the problem, but I doubt things would be as perils if they weren't.

[nvbirdman]

The Colorado River gets tapped a lot for irrigation before it reaches Lake Mead.

[10x]

It is called "rain shadow" and it is caused by the mountains (rise in elevation) between the Pacific and the Continental divide.
Warm wet air blows in off the the Pacific and rises, Warm air holds a lot of moisture, as the air rises up over the slopes of the mountains the air cools, the moisture in the air drops out of it as rain. Much drier air crosses the continental divide and warms as it follows the slope down, picking up moisture as it descends to lower foothills and parkland altitudes.

I live in an area of Rain Shadow in Northern Alberta, It is about 120 miles west to the Rockies. 130 miles west is an entirely different climate with a great deal more precipitation than we get.
Here we get 14" to 18" of precipitation total in a year. Go 130 miles west to the continental divide and the ski resort gets around 40 feet of snow in a winter - Powder King - British Columbia
We are lucky to get 24" of snow during the winter.

[quilbilly]

I told a friend in Mesquite, Nv. yesterday that the heavy snowpack in the Four Corners region gave Lake Mead which provides Las Vegas with electricity and drinking water a one year reprieve from catastrophe. A few months ago I told him that within 10 months Lake Mead would be too low to produce electricity and would be below the intake for LV's drinking water. This winter, the La Nina that caused most of the massive drought started to weaken after three years and about five weeks ago reversed completely to a strengthening El Nino (all happening within a three day period). It seemed like a dam broke sending rain to California. It will take at least three more above-average snow years in the upper Colorado River Basin to get Lake Mead to even close to average levels as long as another La Nina doesn't re-emerge. All this makes me laugh at the greenies with a "God complex" who think they can control the climate.

[rockrat]

Seems like the El Nino caught the forecasters by surprise. They were predicting La Nina all winter long and very little snow here in Colordao. So much for all their long range forecasts!!!

[Handloader109]

Ras the other day that lake Mead's issue is that the year that the distribution of water was set mistakenly at 114% of intake ever since it was built. That was supposedly the max and in the early years didn't come near using the max. But as Vegas and the rest of the area has grown, so has the depletion. And even a great snowfall is only a slight reprieve. Wonder what's gonna happen in 10 years or so when there just isn't nearly enough?

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[MUSTANG]

The New Yorkers will move back to New York from Las Vegas.


For years saw New York plates running all over Las Vegas. They licensed their vehicles in New York and never changed to Las Vegas Nevada Plates where registration fees were much higher.

Of course the vehicles from Mexico probably will not leave.

[Larry Gibson]

Mexico is guaranteed a certain amount of the Colorado river water every year, I'm not saying that they are a part of the problem, but I doubt things would be as perils if they weren't.

Thanks to Hillary........

[Reg]

California and others need the river BUT. Look at all that water running out to the sea from all these recent rains and what about the snow pack that does the same. If they are not willing to put in dams and reservoirs to hold water in times of plenty then they deserve nothing in times of drought.

[deces]

Thanks to Hillary........

I see why.
https://babylonbee.com/news/hillary-...bodies-surface

[MaryB]

It is called "rain shadow" and it is caused by the mountains (rise in elevation) between the Pacific and the Continental divide.
Warm wet air blows in off the the Pacific and rises, Warm air holds a lot of moisture, as the air rises up over the slopes of the mountains the air cools, the moisture in the air drops out of it as rain. Much drier air crosses the continental divide and warms as it follows the slope down, picking up moisture as it descends to lower foothills and parkland altitudes.

I live in an area of Rain Shadow in Northern Alberta, It is about 120 miles west to the Rockies. 130 miles west is an entirely different climate with a great deal more precipitation than we get.
Here we get 14" to 18" of precipitation total in a year. Go 130 miles west to the continental divide and the ski resort gets around 40 feet of snow in a winter - Powder King - British Columbia
We are lucky to get 24" of snow during the winter.

I even see this on a smaller scale. I am on the NE side of Buffalo Ridge in MN. It is 1900 feet ASL, I am at 1100 feet ASL. I watch storms on radar come up the SE side dumping rain then the storm reaches me with just a sprinkle... as the storms get further east of me they rebuild back to heavy rain... this pic shows how it affects winds but the same goes for rain. SW side of the ridge is the MO river basin, NE side the MS river basin.

[MaryB]

Ras the other day that lake Mead's issue is that the year that the distribution of water was set mistakenly at 114% of intake ever since it was built. That was supposedly the max and in the early years didn't come near using the max. But as Vegas and the rest of the area has grown, so has the depletion. And even a great snowfall is only a slight reprieve. Wonder what's gonna happen in 10 years or so when there just isn't nearly enough?

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Highlights the idiocy of cramming millions of people into what is normally a dry desert climate... and getting worse every year with illegal immigration... greenies block desalination and new nuke plants to provide power as they close coal and natural gas plants... Kalifornistan is normally in drought for the southern half of the state, wet years are the rarity!