Lake Powell Water Levels Rise After Four Corners Flooding

Heavy rains lift Lake Powell water levels

According to sltrib.com, Lake Powell’s water level has seen a noticeable increase following severe flooding brought on by heavy rain in the Four Corners region of New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah last week.

Saturday’s daily measurement of the lake’s level stood at 3,526.1 feet above sea level. This reading marked an increase of 1.1 feet from the previous day and put the reservoir 7.1 feet higher than it measured two weeks prior, according to the Lake Powell Water Database. The total elevation is now 9.5 feet above the lake’s lowest point on Sept. 15.

Lake Powell gains 600,000 acre-feet of water

Gene Shawcroft, chair of the Colorado River Authority of Utah, described the sudden accumulation as phenomenal for this time of year. The influx amounts to roughly 600,000 acre-feet of water entering the reservoir. Shawcroft noted that this volume is equivalent to twice the capacity of Jordanelle Reservoir.

Before the recent storms, Lake Powell’s elevations were approaching very critically low elevations. While the sudden addition provides a welcome buffer, Shawcroft emphasized that it does not solve the problem by any stretch of the imagination.

Despite the gains, Saturday’s measurement remained 19.55 feet below the level recorded exactly one year earlier. September's low point left the reservoir 180 feet below full capacity, a mark not reached since 1983.

Upstream moisture misses Lake Mead

Paul Miller, service coordination hydrologist for the National Weather Service’s Colorado Basin River Forecast Center, characterized the 9.5-foot gain as a drop in the bucket in the broader hydrological picture. Even so, he called it a positive start to the current water year, which began on Oct. 1 and runs through Sept. 30, 2027.

Lake Mead, situated downstream from Lake Powell, has not experienced a comparable elevation increase because the heavy downpours occurred mostly upstream of Glen Canyon Dam. Over the same two-week window, Lake Mead’s water level rose by just 0.06 feet, according to its tracking database.

The San Juan River has driven a significant portion of the recent inflows. The river contributed about 251% of its average amount of water so far in October, accounting for roughly a third of the total water flowing into Lake Powell this month. In contrast, the upper Colorado headwaters are producing only about 64% of the water that area produces in October, while the Green River Basin is contributing as much water as is typical for October.

Evacuations along the San Juan River

While the moisture aids the reservoir, the intense runoff triggered severe flooding along local waterways. On Sunday, rising waters on the San Juan River forced evacuations and road closures across three Utah towns in the Navajo Nation: Bluff, Montezuma Creek and Aneth. The Navajo Department of Emergency Management confirmed the disruptions on Facebook.

The National Weather Service in Grand Junction, Colorado, reported catastrophic flooding along the river between Four Corners and Mexican Hat. Forecasters maintained a flood watch for the Bluff area through Sunday evening alongside a flood warning stretching through Tuesday morning.

Miller reports that the floodwaters surging down the San Juan River are expected to reach Lake Powell by late Sunday evening or early Monday morning, which will likely push the reservoir’s levels even higher.

More on this story: Lower Moencopi flash floods displace up to 10 Hopi families