Wesley Seybold snow blowing a wall of snow to reclaim his driveway Monday, March 13, 2023 in Brighton.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
Lake Powell is currently close to 180 feet below full pool and coming off a summer last year where several boat ramps were closed and owners were advised to retrieve their houseboats from the docks.
Releases from a couple of upstream reservoirs, including Flaming Gorge, were made last summer to help the nation’s second largest reservoir and its Glen Canyon Dam, which provides power generation to Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Nebraska.
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A Monday briefing from the drought integrated information center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said there is wet relief on the way for Lake Powell, which typically gets its maximum flows well into July.
“So back in early December, the forecast was suggesting maybe perhaps below average streamflow into Lake Powell for that April through July period,” said Joel Lisonbee, the regional drought information coordinator for NOAA. “But as we have seen the snowpack increase, those forecasts have increased the expected inflow we’re sitting at. We are currently expecting above average inflow, but pretty far from the record we set in 1984.”
Those expectations increased due a well above average snowpack for the Upper Colorado River Basin, which is sitting at 132% of average. The Upper Colorado River Basin includes Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico.
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Source:: Deseret News – Utah News