Lake Mead's water levels have increased slightly after two days of record-breaking rainfall fell in Las Vegas, Nevada, last weekend.
Lake Mead in Nevada and Arizona and Lake Powell in Utah and Arizona have suffered from drought for years, and excessive water usage is slowly depleting the Colorado River faster than natural weather patterns can fill it. An above-average snowfall and excessive precipitation last spring and this winter bolstered the water levels at Lake Mead, and recent rainstorms in the area also could be contributing to the lake's minor rise.
Lake Mead water levels have risen since the beginning of the year, but they began to level off in late February and began to decline in mid-March. However, levels have experienced a slight rise since March 15, when heavy rain hit the region.
As of Monday, levels were at 1,075.95 feet after reaching 1,075.92 feet on Friday.
Heavy rain hit the Las Vegas area on Friday and set a new daily precipitation record of .35 inches. The rain more than tripled the last record of .08 inches set on March 15 in 1942 and 1955. Another daily precipitation record was broken the following day, March 16, when .36 inches of rain fell.
"Oops, we did it again! Two days in a row of record breaking rainfall in #Vegas," the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Las Vegas posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday. "Yesterday mornings rainfall set a new record the calendar date of March 16th, shattering the old record of 0.20" set in 2003."
Las Vegas' average monthly rainfall for March is .42 inches, and the region has already received .71 inches of rain this month, NWS meteorologist Barry Pierce told Newsweek. However, although the rain could've impacted Lake Mead's rise in water levels, Pierce said several contributing factors could be the reason the lake rose.
"It could've been just from less water orders needed downstream to less people watering to maybe some contribution from the rainfall," Pierce said. "There's a lot of things that could go into that."
Even if the rain did contribute to Lake Mead's water levels, it didn't impact the lake's levels significantly. Most of Lake Mead's water increases come from snowmelt in the spring that flows into the Colorado River. The lake is expected to begin rising steadily in April once snowmelt begins.
Despite the slight dip in water levels lately, Lake Mead is still 30 feet higher than it was at this time last year.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Anna Skinner is a Newsweek senior reporter based in Indianapolis. Her focus is reporting on the climate, environment and weather ... Read more
