Did the hurricane help fill Lake Mead?

As much as we clearly wanted it to, Hurricane Hilary couldn't help with that. Its rain didn't reach into the Rockies to sate those soils. And while Hilary drenched areas near Lake Mead, it gained less than a foot of elevation in the days after the storm (it is a big lake, after all, which takes a lot of water to fill).



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Lake Mead water levels up after snowy winter, former Hurricane Hilary. Lake Mead water levels were at record low levels last summer but snow over the winter and former Hurricane Hilary helped restore some water to the basin.

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LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Television and social media videos of raging floodwaters after Tropical Storm Hilary lead the public to ask, “Does all that water help?” The answer is complicated, but officials say Hilary's direct effect on Lake Mead was “minor” and had more to do with reduced demand than anything else.

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The tropical storm brought nearly a monsoon season's worth of precipitation in just a few days. But that heavy rainfall likely had little effect on Lake Mead's water levels.

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“Although every drop counts, the reality is that the rain we received from Tropical Storm Hilary and runoff into the tributaries that enter Lake Mead as well as reduced releases from Hoover Dam — due to a decrease in downstream demand — has had some minor impact on the lake's elevation,” according to U.S. Bureau of ...

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Investments to enhance system conservation and improved hydrology have led to significant improvements for Lake Mead this year, the federal government announced Tuesday, after the lake hit historic lows last year and the remains of several bodies were found.

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Although, Lake Mead has seen a sharp increase in its water levels over the past few months. At the beginning of 2023, the lake's water levels stood at 1,044 feet. This was following a bone dry summer, when the western U.S. was suffering during an intense stretch of drought.

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Most of our rainwater travels untreated through gutters, storm drains, channels, washes and eventually into the major source of our drinking water - Lake Mead. All storm drains lead to lake mead. Stormwater that falls in the Las Vegas Valley picks up pollutants and travels untreated to Lake Mead.

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“While the amount of precipitation received from the recent storms in the lower basin and from tributary inflows helps, the greatest source of water for Lake Mead is still from snow melt and flows from the upper basin — especially from good winter snowpack from the west slope of the Rocky Mountains,” Hendrix said.

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The Lake Mead problem could be resolved by draining Lake Powell and storing the water in Lake Mead. More than 5% of the water in the Colorado River evaporates off the surface of Lake Powell - which never should have been built.

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Ever Wondered: Where Does All That Las Vegas Storm Water Go? Storm water from the Las Vegas valley flows through the Las Vegas Wash into Lake Mead. This photo shows a view of the Hoover Dam from the Arizona side of the border on a sunny day in the southwest.

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Did Tropical Storm Hilary Affect Lake Mead Water Levels? Lake Mead's water levels, at a record low last year due to ongoing drought, rose a bit during heavy rainfall from Tropical Storm Hilary. But rain isn't the lake's primary source of water.

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One year later, Mead's elevation is inching back up. A combination of historic winter snowpack and new federal agreements to pay cities, farmers and tribes to conserve water are expected to raise Mead to a high point of 1,070 feet in February 2024, according to the most recent federal data.

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As crazy as it sounds, engineers say the idea is technically feasible. It would involve building a system of dams and pipelines to move the water uphill across multiple states over the Continental Divide. Gravity would then work in our favor to drop the water down to the Colorado River watershed.

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When the snow eventually begins to melt, gravity will take over. As the water flows down from higher elevations, it begins a long journey that does not end at Lake Mead. According to the Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD) the water will slowly seep into the ground.

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The water levels for Lake Mead are projected to reach slightly over 1,065 feet by January 2024, according to the Bureau of Reclamation, in large part due to an extremely wet winter that eased the effects of the longstanding drought. In October 2022, the water levels were at a historic low, at roughly 1,046 feet.

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After falling to record lows in 2022, Lake Mead has seen its water levels rise 3 feet above projections after a precipitation-heavy winter. But experts warn it's only a temporary reprieve without a comprehensive water management plan.

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Dead pool conditions would mean the end of all electric production, as well as water, from the Colorado River. Electricity would not just be the only thing lost. Without Lake Mead, Las Vegas would lose access to 90 percent of its water sources.

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Although Lake Mead has started to recover, it still has a long way to go before it is stable and healthy. After reaching record lows in 2022, Lake Mead has seen some signs of recovery in 2023 thanks to a precipitation-heavy winter that increased the snowpack throughout the Colorado River Basin.

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There'll be a little bit of lingering water from that, but it's not going to be a lot. Record snowfall last winter from multiple atmospheric river-driven storms brought needed snowmelt into Lake Mead in the spring but still not enough to restore the losses over the past 20 years.

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