The Colorado River could be facing another dry year ahead.
The Colorado Basin River Forecast Center says the river’s headwaters could be due for a drier than normal year ahead.
Even though snowpack is at relatively normal levels across Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, that could change, says the center’s hydrologist Cody Moser.
“We’re happy to see some of the recent snow, but it’s still way too early to get too excited,” Moser said.
He adds that a third year of La Niña makes a dry winter more likely. The amount of water the river delivers into Lake Powell, one of its main reservoirs, is currently projected to be below average this spring due to dry soils across the basin.
The river is in a 23-year-long megadrought that has drained its largest reservoirs to historic lows.
