LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Lake Mead water levels are improving, with the reservoir tracking its highest point in about three years.
Although Southern Nevada has had its fair share of precipitation these past few weeks, a healthy snowpack in the Rocky Mountains is what truly improves conditions for our water supply.
At the National Weather Service here in Las Vegas, meteorologist Andrew Gorelow said his team has been tracking lots of beneficial storms this past month.
“We use various weather models, radar, satellite, anything like that. We just had a big atmospheric river a couple weeks ago, a little bit of snow about a week ago. All of that certainly helps," Gorelow explained.
Lake Mead ultimately does benefit from local snowpack and rainfall but barely - less than 1% - according to Gorelow.
“Very little rain, or very little water, comes from the Spring Mountains."
97% of the water actually drains downstream from melted snow in the Upper Colorado River Basin.
Recently, active weather has bolstered the snowpack and the basin is now hitting about 93% of average snow depth. At the beginning of 2024, the level was at just 62% of average.
If you want to explore more data for the Upper Colorado River Basin, click here.
There's more good news. A new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts more wet weather for our region on the horizon.
Here's the monthly outlook, which was published on Thursday.
