Nope. Just a what if

Mar 17, 2023
10:47:53am

bluelands Truly Addicted User

I have a friend who put in 30 years at Las Vegas Water District and he told me a few years ago two consecutive mega winters would fill Lake Mead. First one would fill upstream reservoirs, including Powell, and second would fill Mead back up.

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bluelands

Bio page: bluelands
Joined: Aug 16, 2002
Last login: May 5, 2023
Total posts: 52,694 (564 FO)

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Messages

Author

Time

Lake Mead water level up 5+ feet since July. But overall prediction is that it

UberDeek

3/17/23 9:23am

Really? I thought (and maybe I'm wrong) that Powell was going to suffer in order to fill Mead.

RSL

3/17/23 9:26am

Powell is closer to dead pool than Mead

UberDeek

3/17/23 9:27am

Powell and Mead are both sitting at about 150 feet above dead pool. Powell is a slightly smaller reservoir so based on

scall

3/17/23 9:32am

I think the idea is that you can always send water downhill but can't send it...

mang

3/17/23 10:54am

What is the prediction for Powell this year?

cougaman

3/17/23 9:27am

Lake Powell watershed is at 142% of normal. Predictions are 45 feet +/-

UberDeek

3/17/23 9:28am

And that’s with holding some water back from mead? Hopefully we get a few years

cougaman

3/17/23 9:32am

If next year were like this year, we would be normal again in the West

bluelands

3/17/23 9:46am

I wouldn't count on all time records happening consecutively- though in the mid 80s

BeyondTheMark

3/17/23 10:19am

Nope. Just a what if

bluelands

3/17/23 10:47am

4 Mega winters (like this year) in a row would probably do it-

scall

3/17/23 10:55am

Man, 50 feet of water in a reservoir like Powell is a LOT of water.

RSL

3/17/23 10:58am

It's almost unfathomable when you start trying to quantify it. Especially with how "little" rain and snow the west gets

scall

3/17/23 11:14am

If everything is already full, it all ends up in Mead

bluelands

3/17/23 11:02am

But the point is Powell won't fill until year 3. Mead wouldn't fill until year 4.

scall

3/17/23 11:13am

And remember, the first 50 is a lot easier than the last 50

mang

3/17/23 11:23am

Surface elevation isnt a great way to quantify improvement, especially at Powell

Backcountry

3/18/23 9:51am

Colorado has had a really good last few weeks. All of their basins that feed into the Colorado system are 127-155% of

SingleStrapBackpack

3/17/23 9:34am

The water levels are very close to 2017- that year Powell rose 50 feet and Mead rose 30 feet.

scall

3/17/23 9:37am

I'm sure the predictions I'm reading haven't been updated. Looks like they were

UberDeek

3/17/23 9:38am

The key is to get multiple years of this, hopefully.

Adwight

3/17/23 9:39am

Like 4 straight years of this would get us back to full pool at both reservoirs.

scall

3/17/23 9:40am

Rain expected next week M-W in southern Utah at least.

cougaman

3/17/23 9:40am

Back in 2005 when St George had floods for a week. It rose the water level at

UberDeek

3/17/23 9:41am

That was so fun.

Backcountry

3/17/23 9:43am

I thought Lake Mead was the more efficient storage location?

BYU Robert

3/17/23 9:51am

Interesting. Mead has a much larger surface area and probably loses more to

Backcountry

3/17/23 10:11am

Lake Mead has a surface area of 247 sq. mi. Lake Powell’s is 266. Mead may have a greater storage capacity, however.

Brisco

3/17/23 10:45am

Wow, didnt expect that.

Backcountry

3/17/23 6:41pm

Yeah, the massive evap losses are the best argument on the side of those who argue that Powell and Mead should never

SingleStrapBackpack

3/18/23 9:43am

You’re right.

Brisco

3/17/23 10:47am

Here's little blurb about it. Really fascinating stuff:

scall

3/17/23 11:00am

And see also:

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