Big Rockies snowpack may boost Lake Mead

As of Monday, the Upper Colorado River Basin's snowpack was at 133 percent of its 30-year historical average and was sitting at 101 percent of what the basin typically receives over the course of a season. "This year has been extremely wonderful for the West in general," said Paul Miller, a service coordination hydrologist at the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center of the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City. "I think this year has been the wettest since 2011." In five to six weeks from now, the snowfall in the basin will likely reach its peak. After that, it will start to melt and flow into Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona border through July. February began rather dry for the area, but over the past week, a string of storms that arose from the southern Pacific Ocean brought a substantial amount of moisture to the basin. In the next five days, according to Miller, "quite active weather patterns" are expected to sweep through the river valley, which should only assist to boost those snowpack numbers. The runoff efficiency in the basin has gotten poorer recently as a result of hotter temperatures and drier soils, so even average snow years still resulted in below-average water flow into the river. But, late-fall showers in the area helped to enhance those soils and create a better drainage scenario for this year's snow, according to Miller. Despite the fact that the soils are still drier than average in some areas of the basin, Miller expressed optimism that the basin should have above-average water flow into the river this spring and summer.

Видео Big Rockies snowpack may boost Lake Mead канала Free News