After falling to record lows in 2022, Lake Mead has seen its water levels rise 3 feet above projections after a precipitation-heavy winter.
While the Colorado River reservoir's elevation was projected to sink to 1,043 feet above sea level by March, according to Bureau of Reclamation data, it sat at about 3 feet higher as of Monday.
The higher-than-expected levels are largely due to the heavy levels of precipitation in the West over the winter months, tempering the drought that's plagued the region the past two decades.
Analysis by Weather Underground indicates March 2022 to February 2023 was the wettest March-February period in the U.S. on record and the third wettest 12-month period overall.
"We had a really, really good winter here out West. In northern Arizona we had record snow on the ground," Christopher Kuzdas, a senior water program manager with the Environmental Defense Fund, told The Hill.
However, Kuzdas said, the good winter should not be viewed as a blank check to avoid lasting water-management strategies for the still-overallocated Colorado River.
"It means stay the course," he said. "It would be irresponsible to do nothing just because we had a good winter.
The lake's levels have been dropping since the turn of the 21st century, when a two-decade drought, exacerbated by climate change, hit the western U.S. Even with the recent weather, the lake is only about 28 percent full as of Sunday, according to Bureau of Reclamation data.
Read more about the situation at TheHill.com.
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