Arizona Department of Water Resources

Protecting & enhancing Arizona’s water supplies for current and future generations.

Snowpack

Deeper Snowpack At Higher Levels Of Mountain Watersheds Improves Winter 2019 Outlook

Still young, Winter 2019 has a story to tell: There’s good cold, and there’s bad cold.

Published:January 31, 2019

Projections on inflow into Lake Powell in the coming “water season”: they’ve looked better

The Colorado Basin River Forecast Center has released its August- projections for unregulated runoff into Lake Powell for Water Year 2019, and, in keeping with recent drought-inspired trends, the outlook isn’t pretty.

Published:August 10, 2018

It’s official: 2018 has been the driest winter ever for Arizona’s mountain watersheds

Not without good reason, the nation’s media have been focusing on the dramatically thin snowpack of the Upper Colorado River Basin, which portends a meager amount of runoff into the Colorado River system.

As of April 2, the basin snowpack stood at just 72 percent of normal, heralding a runoff season that may be the sixth driest in the 55 years that Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell have been in place to capture the runoff.

Published:April 6, 2018

Breaking News Flash: Latest numbers on the Colorado River’s water supplies are out!

The data are in for February’s moisture production in the Colorado Basin – the vast, mountain regions stretching from central Wyoming to beyond the Mexican border.

The regions encompass the mountain slopes that produce most of the Colorado River flow, which in turn provide nearly 40 percent of Arizona’s water supply.

Published:March 9, 2018

Dir. Buschatzke on the Historically Dry Winter

The Director for the Arizona Department of Water Resources discusses the potential consequences of an historically low snowpack in the Rockies

Submitted by comm-admin on February 20, 2018 - 3:21pm

Historically dry winter means Lake Mead may be closer to shortfall than people think

Lake Mead shortfall as soon as 2019? Don’t write it off

A Q&A with the ADWR Director about potential consequences of an historically low snowpack in the Rockies

In case you hadn’t noticed, we’ve had some beautiful warm, sunny, dry days of late.

Published:February 9, 2018

Why an enormous, persistent arctic low-pressure system is helping dry out the American SW

It’s… the blob. It came from above. And it’s got the world in its grip.

And… it’s not going anywhere any time soon.

If that sounds like a trailer line for a low-budget sci-fi movie… well, it could be.

But it also fairly describes the powerful “Strong Hudson Bay Low” – an Arctic-spawned low-pressure system that locked in place over much of the Northern Hemisphere in mid-November. The strong, static “blocking” system is showing no sign of releasing its grip any time in the foreseeable future.

 

Published:January 19, 2018

SNOWPACK IN THE ROCKIES

Nothing against California, you understand. We’re all delighted to hear about this winter’s bounty of rain and snow, especially as it piles high in the Sierra Nevada.

Love all those “atmospheric rivers.”

It is great to hear of expert-level debates over whether the Golden State’s drought designations should be eased -- or even lifted entirely -- especially in the north of the state.

Published:February 9, 2017