‘No Good News’: Colorado River Projected to Deliver Lowest Amount of Water Ever to Lake Powell

Lake Powell forecast to receive 13% of its usual flows, new report shows

Lake Powell, one of the Colorado River’s most important reservoirs, is set to receive 13% of its normal spring runoff, the lowest amount from upstream snowmelt on record, according to a federal forecast Thursday. The reservoir, located on the Utah-Arizona border, helps pace the flow of water to millions of people, multibillion-dollar industries, hydropower facilities and protected environments in the immense Colorado River Basin. It is also in d…

‘No good news’: Colorado River projected to deliver lowest amount of water ever to Lake Powell

Colorado River Basin Forecast Center hydrologist Cody Moser was frank Thursday, May 7, as he gave his final update for the season on conditions across the basin that supplies water for 40 million people. Through a historically hot and dry winter, Moser said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s models for how much water will flow through the Colorado River mostly trended in one direction: downward. The latest models now estimate …

Colorado River Basin water crisis deepens with record low summer inflow

This story was first published at KUNC News. DENVER | A federal hydrologist appeared to be momentarily at a loss for words Thursday as he described how dire the latest forecast has gotten for how much water will flow through the Colorado River Basin this summer. “Really no good news this winter,” Cody Moser with the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center said before taking a long pause on a webinar. Moser went on to describe how just 800,000 acre-…

Lake Powell runoff to hit record low, putting Arizona's water supplies at risk

Very dry and warm weather in the winter and early spring means Colorado River flows into Lake Powell will hit record lows this summer, a new federal forecast says.

‘No good news’: Colorado River forecast gets historically bad

Colorado Basin River Forecast Center May 1, 2026 Water Supply Discussion #ColoradoRiver #COriver #aridification

Click the link to read the discussion on the CBRFC website: The Colorado Basin River Forecast Center (CBRFC) geographic forecast area includes the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB), Lower Colorado River Basin (LCRB), and Eastern Great Basin (GB). Water Supply Forecasts April-July volume forecasts are well below normal and rank in the driest five on record at many locations. Record low snowpack and poor soil moisture conditions are the primary h…