lake powell water level forecast 2022

For more information on the tools we use, consult, Upper Colorado Mainstem Specific Site Forecasts. Along its route, the river passes through an elaborate water-management system designed to tame the yearly floods from spring snowmelt and to provide a reliable supply of water for residents as far away as California. She grew up in Tucson, Arizona, where she fell in love with the ecology and geology of the Sonoran desert. As the forecast season progresses, Climate change also plays a part. Mitchell declined to discuss the pending drought operations plan. By Leia Larsen. For additional information, see the following news release: https://www.usbr.gov/newsroom/#/news-release/4196. According to the Bureau of Reclamation's website (on March 22, 2022), Lake The Upper Basin reservoirs have already provided 161,000 acre-feet of water pursuant to the imminent need provision of the Drought Response Operations Agreement, including 36,000 acre-feet from Blue Mesa Reservoir in Colorado. The August 2022 24-Month Study modeled 2023 and 2024 operations at Lakes Powell and Mead as if the 0.480 maf had been delivered to Lake Mead for operating tier/condition purposes both for the U.S. Lower Basin and for Mexico. A 59% flow into Powell translates to about 3.8 million acre-feet. //-->, Printable Version Lukas noted that the dry soil conditions are factored into the NOAA runoff predictions from the get-go so there shouldnt necessarily be any big surprises with that particular variable. average basin temperatures and precipitation for the forecast period. That reference period is updated once a decade; it now begins in the 1990s. View our Current Membership Thank You Gifts, KNAU News Talk - Arizona Public Radio | Reclamation will continue to consult with the Basin States, Basin Tribes, the Republic of Mexico and other partners on Colorado River operations to consider and determine whether additional measures should be taken to further enhance the preservation of these benefits, as well as recovery protocols, including those of future protective measures for both Lakes Powell and Mead. U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation. %PDF-1.7 % Graphical view of Lake Powell water data. The critical issue is how to maintain the lake at 3,525, which marks an elevation that is the top of the liquid buffer zone designed to protect the lakes mighty electricity turbines. Even in low emission climate scenarios (forecasts that are based on the assumption that future carbon dioxide emissions will increase relatively slowly), models predict precipitation may decline by 20-25 percent over most of California, southern Nevada, and Arizona by the end of this century. On April 8, Reclamation announced it would likely keep more water in Lake Powell, reducing releases from the planned 7.5 million acre-feet to 7 million acre-feet, a move that could trigger emergency water cutbacks in Arizona, California and Nevada. We need to get ourselves prepared," he says. DATE MEASURED ELEVATION CHANGE CONTENT INFLOW OUTFLOW HIGH TEMP LOW TEMP WATER TEMP . 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. The modeling approach for WY 2023 will apply to 2024. google_ad_client = "pub-0146338466817273"; The Bureau of Reclamation announced on May 3, 2022, two separate urgent drought response actions that will help prop up Lake Powell by nearly 1 million acre-feet (maf) of water over the next 12 months (May 2022 through April 2023). Antelope Point Marina on Feb. 3, 2022, in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area near Page. google_ad_height = 600; Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. The 30-year average was updated in October 2022 from 1981 through 2010 to 1991 through 2020. Lake Powell