Super El Nino

[Mark]

The rise in Lake Powell this fall is historic, but not entirely without precedent.

Some may recall a similar rain event occurred in 2006, resulting in a 6 foot rise in Lake Powell. Reservoir storage increased about 500,000 acre feet in the first half of October 2006. INFLOWS to Lake Powell reached an astounding 80,500 cfs on 10/6/2006.

October 2026 has now added about 700,000 acre feet to Lake Powell, with almost 500,000 added in the last 7 days alone, with peak inflows over 60,000 cfs, and sustained 40-50000 cfs over several days.

Hopefully the rains will switch to snows soon and give the folks in the Four Corners region a break from flooding!

 

[Trix]

Yep, buried in the many threads over the past week on astonishing lake rise, the October 2006 rise was highlighted. Fascinating stuff. Looks like nice blanket of snow following rain this next week. Couldn’t script a better start to the water year to start recovery from the extended drought. Except for flood damage.

 

[Tiff Mapel]

I remember the October 2006 rise--I was there! We were houseboating with friends, and we brought 5-month old Teagan with us. We arrived on Oct. 6th with stormy skies. That was the only bit of rain we had, then we had beautiful sunny days after that. It was fun watching the lake rise. The bathtub on the houseboat is a great place for a sleeping baby!

Tiff