Lake Mead's water levels have steadily been declining for months, but the ongoing Las Vegas drought likely isn't contributing to the issue.
After years of drought, Lake Mead, which is in Nevada and Arizona, plunged to critically low levels in summer 2022. Above-average precipitation and snowmelt that winter helped remedy the levels, which continued to improve throughout 2023. Now, roughly two years later, Lake Mead's water levels are at 1,062 feet, roughly 16 feet higher than this time in 2022 but still 166 feet below full pool.
The lake has seen steadily declining levels since March, save for a brief period during September, but Las Vegas' dry streak isn't contributing to the falling levels.
Average rainfall to date for Las Vegas is 3.34 inches, but the region has only seen 2.27 inches this year, partially due to the region's dry monsoon season, NWS meteorologist Samuel Meltzer told Newsweek.
"We had high pressure over the region through much of the monsoon season, and as a result, it wasn't quite as active as it's been in years past," Meltzer said. "Much of our forecast area did not receive as much precipitation as it usually does."
As of the most recent U.S. Drought Monitor map, the entirety of Clark County, home to Las Vegas, was facing moderate drought. More than 84 percent of the county was struggling with severe drought. This time last year, the percentage was zero.
Record-breaking heat has also contributed to the drought, Meltzer said.
But Lake Mead is more likely to be affected by low snowfall in the Rocky Mountains than by a dry summer.
"The thing about Lake Mead is that most of that water comes from the Rocky Mountains," Meltzer said. "It starts as snowfall in the Rocky Mountains that melts and goes down the Colorado River and winds up in Lake Mead."
"Monsoon precipitation is not as much as a factor for water levels," he added.
Lake Mead water levels also are affected by water releases upstream. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation authorizes the releases from Lake Powell.
Metzler said Las Vegas will likely remain dry at least through the end of the week. "There's a low-pressure system coming in at the start of next week, but it's too early to say how much precipitation we will get out of that."
Last year, Las Vegas had received 4.45 inches of rain to date. The higher rainfall was attributable to Hurricane Hilary, which brought precipitation to the region in August 2023, as well as storms in late September of that year.
English (US) ·