How Lake Mead Water Levels Could Change After 'Widespread' Rain

A Pacific storm will bring "widespread precipitation" to much of the United States, and Lake Mead water levels will benefit from the rain.

The moisture-laden storm is expected to arrive in California on Wednesday and batter the northwestern coast with up to 5 inches of rain before the storm moves further inland. Rain will arrive in the Las Vegas, Nevada, area in two batches, and National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist Chris Outler told Newsweek both bouts of rain will help the lake's water levels.

Lake Mead started January off on a strong note, as water levels are 26 feet higher than this time last year. After years of drought, Lake Mead, located in Nevada and Arizona, reached drastically low levels in the summer of 2022, but water levels started to recover in 2023 because of above-average precipitation during the winter months. Lake Powell in Utah and Arizona also improved over the spring and summer months, but its levels have since started a slow decline.

After maintaining its levels since September, Lake Mead levels began slowly increasing again at the end of November. As of Tuesday, Lake Mead had surpassed 1,072 feet, 4 feet higher than at the start of the month.

Water levels are likely to continue rising, as the incoming winter storm is expected to produce up to 1 inch of rain for the Las Vegas region.

Las Vegas has only received .26 inches of rain in January. However, February is the city's wettest month, Outler said. Up to a half-inch of rain will fall on Thursday and Friday, with another half-inch forecast for early next week.

Although Lake Mead has a long road to full recovery, Outler said that any storm systems producing rain in the Colorado River basin will be beneficial to the lake.

"The lake will definitely be getting some of the rain, and so will the basins that drain into the lake," Outler said. "We'll take anything we can get."

Although any rain is helpful, most of Lake Mead's recovery comes from snow melt that saturates the Colorado River in the spring.

Other states also will experience a bout of wet weather. The NWS office in San Diego shared a map with precipitation estimates on X, formerly Twitter, over the weekend.

"Widespread precipitation with the next Pacific storm driven by a strong extended jet stream - a cold front and atmospheric river is expected Thursday with much colder air for Friday and lower snow levels - here is the rainfall total forecast," the office posted.

North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and central Alabama can expect the least amount of rain, according to the map.