LAS VEGAS (AP) — Hefty snowfalls that fed the Colorado River in recent weeks may slow the water level decline of Lake Mead on the Nevada-Arizona border, according to some experts.
Forecasters now expect Lake Mead to finish this year around 1,027 feet elevation, about 19 feet lower than its current level.
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While the projections have improved with the snowpack, the forecasted levels mean that Lake Mead would remain in shortage conditions for at least a third consecutive year.
Snowpack numbers across the region are far above average, with some parts of California and Nevada currently near or more than 200 percent of average for this point of the year.
According to the latest projections from the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center, the April through July snowmelt runoff is expected to swell the river to 117 percent of its 30-year average as that snow melts and runs downstream to Lake Powell.
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That's a substantial uptick from the 79 percent of average that the center had forecasted for the river last month.
