Lake Mead Water Levels Change at Rate Not Seen in Years

Lake Mead's water levels are changing at an impressive rate not seen during January for more than five years.

After years of drought, Lake Mead, which is in Nevada and Arizona, reached drastically low levels in the summer of 2022. However, water levels have since started to recover because of above-average precipitation and snowpack that melted last year and various storms that supplemented the levels throughout the summer. Typically, Lake Mead's water levels stall, or the increase slows, during the winter months, but a graph shows that isn't the case this year.

On Monday, Lake Mead water levels were marked at more than 1,070 feet. The lake surpassed 2022 levels last May and blew past 2021 levels in December. The lake still has a long way to go before it's recovered completely, as full pool is measured at 1,229 feet. But a graph by Lakesonline.com shows there's good news for the reservoir: Water levels have jumped more than 2 feet in the two weeks since January 1, a rate of increase not seen since 2019.

The El Niño climate pattern has caused several winter storms to dump rain on the Southwest, but typically most of Lake Mead's rise occurs in the spring as snow melts upstream and then flows down the Colorado River to supplement the lake. It's unclear if the lake's recent increase is because of water release from Lake Powell or because of the winter storms.

For example, in late December, the lake jumped by more than half a foot, but the Las Vegas region received only .06 inches of rain during that time, and National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist Jenn Varian told Newsweek that she didn't believe the lake's increase was due to weather-related reasons.

Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees water releases from Lake Powell, by email for comment.

Despite the lake's rapid increase, Las Vegas is enduring a drier than average January, with only .04 inches of rain falling this month, NWS meteorologist John Adair told Newsweek on Monday. Typically in January, Las Vegas receives a little over half an inch of rain, with .27 inches the average amount month to date.

Varian previously told Newsweek that the area is a "bit too far north" to benefit strongly from any wet weather patterns produced by El Niño. However, Adair said there are indications that an atmospheric river could affect the West Coast next week, potentially bringing precipitation to Las Vegas. "But it has to come together just right to get into Las Vegas," he said.

The forecast is unclear, given that the storm is still more than a week away.