ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Parts of California are submerged, the Rocky Mountains prepare for more snow, flood warnings are issued in Nevada, water is released from reservoirs in Arizona, and expected abundance Be prepared for a spring runoff.
All of the humidity has helped ease dryness in many parts of the western United States — even the Colorado River’s major reservoir is headed in the right direction.
However, climate experts Favorable drought map It represents a fleeting moment on the radar as the long-term effects of persistent drought persist.
Groundwater and reservoir levels remain at historically low levels, although they will take much longer to recover. It can take a year or more for excess moisture to affect the shoreline of Lake Mead, which straddles Arizona and Nevada. It’s also unlikely that water managers would have enough leeway to rewind time on proposals to limit water use.
It is for moisture release and retention. Operation of large reservoirs and its upstream brother, Lake Powell, on the Utah-Arizona border, are already due this year. This reservoir is used to supply water from the Colorado River to seven states in the United States and her 40 million people in Mexico.
Still, Lake Powell could expand by 45 feet (14 meters) over the next three months as snow melts into tributaries and rivers. How much it rises depends on soil moisture levels, future precipitation, temperature, and evaporative loss.
“We are definitely on the right track, but there is still a long way to go,” said Paul Miller, a hydrologist at the National Weather Service’s Colorado Basin River Forecasting Center.
Federal Forecasters are due Thursday to release temperature, precipitation and drought forecasts for the next three months, as well as the risk of spring flooding.
California is already Drenched in damp fire hose From the Pacific that caused floods, landslides and fallen trees.
A ski resort on the California-Nevada border has recorded the snowiest winter stretch since record-keeping began in 1971. In fact, the Sierra Nevada is about to pass its second-highest snowfall of the entire winter season, but it will take at least two more months.
In Arizona, forecasters warned heavy rains are expected on prepared snowpacks in the mountains above the desert enclave of Sedona. Evacuations were ordered for several areas late Wednesday as expected.
“The Lower Colorado Basin is well above all kinds of averages and normals,” says Miller, but not in other western basins.
Forecasters say what really stands out is the Great Basin, which stretches from the Sierra Nevada to the Wasatch Mountains in Utah. This season we have recorded more snow than the previous two seasons combined. Joel Lisonbee of the National Integrated Drought Information System said this was notable given that only two years in the past decade, 2017 and 2019, snow cover was above the median. increase.
Overall, the West has been drier than wet for over two decades, and many regions are still feeling the effects.
Oregon’s state of emergency has warned of heightened water shortages and wildfire risks in the central part of the state. Central Utah, southeastern Colorado, and parts of eastern New Mexico are still experiencing extreme drought, while Texas and parts of the Midwest are getting drier.
Forecasters expect warm, dry weather to set in in the coming weeks. in short, Drought maintains a foothold Tighten your grip in some areas and tighten your grip in others.
Tony Caligiuri, president of the conservation group Colorado Open Lands, said all the recent rainfall should not derail the work of recharging groundwater supplies.
“The problem or hazard of these temporary rainy season events is that they can reduce the urgency of addressing long-term issues of water use and water conservation,” he said.
The group is conducting experiments in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado, the headwaters of the Rio Grande River. One of North America’s longest rivers, the Rio Grande and its reservoirs are struggling due to little snow cover, prolonged drought, and constant demand.that Dry During the Albuquerque summer, the manager didn’t have extra water to make up for the flow.
Colorado Open Lands reached an agreement with the farmer to clear his land and stop irrigating about 1,000 acres. Caligiuri said the idea was to remove a large straw from the aquifer, which would allow the savings to keep other farms in the district facing the threat of having to close the wells. lose.
“I’ve seen places like the San Luis Valley where a decade of good years goes by and a year of drought wipes out a decade of progress when it comes to rainfall and snowfall,” he said. “So you can’t stick your head in the sand just because you’ve had a wet year.”
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Scott Sonar, an AP writer from Reno, Nevada, contributed to this report.
