Lake Mead FILLING UP Again? Water Level UPDATE 2024 Lake Powell Colorado River California Flooding!

Hello and welcome to a rainy and cheerful Lake Me

water

level

update

. Normally the phrase would be rainy and gloomy, but rising humidity and atmospheric

river

s in the Southwest have been a blessing lately, although the systems once

again

cause destruction for some in the West. Hopes for

water

this year have been met with overwhelming gratitude by most of the River Watchers. As we approach spring, let's take a look at how drenching it has been and the effects it has had on our reservoirs after a dry and somewhat lackluster January. February arrived like a lion bringing several atmospheric Pacific

river

s from Hawaii with enough energy to traverse California Nevada Arizona Utah and beyond wave after wave ran into Las Vegas and Lake Me continually exploring the area for almost the entire week leading up to Sunday from the Super Bowl on an unrelated note here's a photo I captured of the Air Force flyover before the big game.

I'm not a big football fan, but I enjoy watching all the military planes around the event. Here's another of the two Super Stallions on a short tour. On the northern fringe, just east of the city, on Lake Me, the scene was much the same that week, what most would consider a wet, gloomy day. I found it quite calm and peaceful just enjoying the solitude with the ducks and the patter of the rain. in the water now I know a lot of people always wonder what effects this has on the

lake

. Surely all this rain helps, and yes, you're right, it does help and it's

filling

up, but let's take a look.

The

lake

meat is currently sitting. at 1.76 feet above sea

level

and still rising, gaining 6 feet in elevation since the last report and regaining almost 30 feet since this time last year, capacity has increased 35 to 37% in my chart, you can see which since the start of

2024

has continued to increase in elevation creating a near perfect recovery that we could only hope for until now, but as we already covered earlier in the year, this is once

again

mainly due to the USB releasing water from Lake Powell Upstream. at a significant rate, as we also covered, this can only go on for so long, in a minute, all the local rain and storms that came into southern Nevada have certainly done their small part, you know the phrase every drop counts, well , these storms. continued throughout the end of the month, even bringing a rare occurrence of fog to the Las Vegas Strip and a morning of 100% humidity in the desert after a relatively dry and warm start to the New Year, the water equivalent of snow in the mountains around Las Vegas. in early February it was only 43% of the average at the time of this report;

However, that number is now at 105% of average in the upper basin, including the Rocky Mountains, where snowpack really counts for Colorado's health. 82% to 95% of the average in the same time period. Likewise, in the lower basin, including Arizona, California and Nevada, snow water equivalent has gone from a mediocre 63% in early February to a staggering 119% of average now. February was certainly good for the Southwest this year and with more systems located off the California coast, we'll wait and see what kind of bonus could be added before the spring melt and warmth begins. Until then, all the local storm activity is very welcome and we will certainly continue to enjoy these rainy days in the desert, but according to the Las Vegas Valley Water District, the Las Vegas wash where all the urban runoff and a large The amount of stormwater channeled back to the lake only contributes to about 2% of the lake's total annual content, so keep in mind that an overwhelming majority of the lake's meat content and health is dictated by upstream events, primarily snow accumulating the Rocky Mountains through Utah and how the USB handles Lake Powell on top of it and talking about Lake Pow.

Upstream, the reservoir today sits at 3,562 feet above sea level dropping another 4 feet since the last report and falling to 34% of its capacity, the water level has continued to slowly decline since July of last year as Powell continues to supply beef to Lake, one begins to understand why Lake Downstream beef has been allowed such a good recovery early in the year. year that we can see in the steady decline at Powell, the USB has been passing a lot of water directly into Lake Me this year, prioritizing that reservoir and eliminating required releases for now, as mentioned above, although this can only continue for so long.

To maintain safe operating levels at both reservoirs, electrical power will need to be replenished with water supplies originating from Flaming Gorge and the upstream snowpack, with the USB apparently abandoned, abandoning the idea of ​​decommissioning the Glen Canyon Dam next year. past, they now depend on more good water. years and demand reduction programs like those we discussed in the first Colorado River Watch, which involved paying farmers not to farm with taxpayer-funded spending bills. Do you think Glen Canyon Dam should have been dismantled or bypassed, making Lake Me the only major reservoir for the Colorado River? Colorado, do you think mega dams like Hoover and Glen Canyon should have been replaced with several smaller regional dams, much like those created by beavers, and habitat?

How can we better prepare for the worst drought years while also being prepared for the most intense historic flood years? As we saw in 1983, it will be interesting to hear your thoughts on all of this as we approach the culmination of 100 years of the original Rio pact that establishes most of these decisions and speaking of demand reduction programs in agriculture, a kind of this program that's been in the residential sector for quite some time is already paying residents to tear up water-thirsty natural grass here in Las Vegas, the incentive for that even increased this year, as you can see in this brochure from the Southern Nevada Water District, there is now a bid of $5 per square foot for natural grass that a resident removes and replaces with drip irrigation and Zer exhaust, which is up from last year's $3 per square foot, but it is also will reduce to $2 next year in 2025.

Las Vegas pioneered this. program more than a decade ago in an attempt to reduce the water demand of their growing communities, and many cities in the Colorado River Basin are beginning to test similar programs now, whether you agree to the payments or the called demand reduction programs, whether at the residential or commercial level. it's a different story maybe you think it's necessary to remove ornamental vegetation like grass or maybe you think we shouldn't pay big alfalfa and almond farms not to farm in the desert where they shouldn't be anyway, let us know What you think. think about the comments below and hey, I get it, sometimes all the drought, floods and conservation stuff gets a little heavy, sometimes you just need a little break from it all.

Get back to nature, you know, touch some sand or hug a cactus, maybe well, if that. It looks like you check out one of our full adventure episodes here on the channel and if you want to go really far, you can check out our weird adventure clips and things that just don't belong here on our second Mojo Adventures channel. just for you true desert walkers, you can find a link below in the description. We know you have plenty of places to get news and entertainment these days and we want to thank you for spending some of that time here.

A special shout out to our Super Thanks to the latest

update

viewer Bobby cv64 and our Colorado River Watch Peter Smith 109. Thank you both for supporting small creators like us. The super thank you is always unexpected but greatly appreciated and we will try to continue bringing you lake and river content. in the future, as long as you continue to enjoy it, if you are like Peter and Bobby and found the video interesting or learn something of value here today, please consider giving us a like or subscribing to the channel for more information, don't forget that We are starting the new Mojo Earthwork Shop on Etsy too if you'd like to support our work directly and help keep YouTube's hand out of our backpacks.

I know there isn't much available at the moment but we have the basic adventure teas and we're working on them. We have more designs this year so stay tuned, we even have a pop up silversmith here so there might be some interesting handmade items and very unique in the future from our own rock hunting finds until then, stay hydrated, stay happy and we will. See you next time