Question of the Day - 25 May 2025

Sure do. And though it's still better than its grimmest point a few years ago, it's not as good as it's been for a couple of them. 

The surface level of Lake Mead reached its lowest point since it was filled in the 1930s in July 2022; that level was 1,040 feet (above sea level, which is how the surface level is measured). A very wet winter in 2023 led to a surge, with the lake reaching a peak in February and then gradually leveling off. In 2024, the water level continued to climb, reaching the highest point since 2021 in February, when it rose to 1,076 feet, a total of 26 feet above its lowest point.  

Then, a down year. Last winter was drier than the past couple, with the snowpack in the upper Colorado Basin ranging from 50% to 80%. Forecasters initially predicted the runoff at 67% of normal, but then lowered that estimate to 55%. 

The lake is now about 164 feet below “full pool.” It hit its highest level at 1,225.4 feet in July 1983, less than four feet below full capacity.

Projections issued in January estimated that over the next two years, the lake could get as high as 1,070 feet and as low as 1,049.

Last month, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released a new 24-month study, in which water scientists predicted that the "most probable minimum" for the lake level would be 1,057 feet on December 31 of this year, which would mean dropping around 19 feet from its highest point in February 2024. That's still higher -- by 17 feet -- than its low point, but it certainly worries officials after two years of respite. "A painful summer," one water advocate called it. "We’re getting close to those dangerous levels we saw a few years ago.”