Heavy rain has lifted Lake Powell nearly 10 feet since its September low

Lake Powell has risen about 9.5 feet since its low point on Sept. 15 after heavy rain flooded the Four Corners area last week, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. Saturday's reading was 3,526.1 feet above sea level, 1.1 feet higher than the day before and 7.1 feet above the level two weeks earlier, according to the Lake Powell Water Database. ^[1]

Gene Shawcroft, chair of the Colorado River Authority of Utah, called the rise "phenomenal this time of year" and said it likely reached 10 feet by Sunday, about 600,000 acre-feet, or twice the capacity of Jordanelle Reservoir. He added that it "doesn't solve the problem by any stretch of the imagination." Saturday's level was 19.55 feet below the same day last year, and the September low was 180 feet below full, a level the lake has not reached since 1983. ^[1]

Paul Miller, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service's Colorado Basin River Forecast Center, called the gain "a drop in the bucket" but good news and "a nice start to the water year." Most of the rain fell upstream of Glen Canyon Dam, so Lake Mead has risen only 0.06 feet in two weeks. ^[1]

The San Juan River supplied about 152% of its average flow so far in October, Miller said, and about a third of the water entering Lake Powell this month, well above the 13% it usually contributes. The flood crest on the river was not expected to reach the lake until late Sunday or early Monday, so the level could climb further. The upper Colorado headwaters are contributing about 64% of their typical October flow. ^[1]