Water Availability Project

Colorado River Water Scout

Snowpack • Runoff • Reservoirs • Flow • Consequences

A public-facing prototype for tracking the chain from mountain snowpack to Lake Powell inflow and downstream Colorado River flow. Values shown here are a first-module demonstration and should be refreshed from official sources before publication.

Current Snowpack Signal

The Mountain Water Bank

Colorado River Basin above Lake Powell

Percent of Median

23%

The snowpack signal is the first warning light. In early May, the snow-water still stored above Lake Powell was reported at 2.5 inches — only 23% of the 30-year median for that date.

Snow

2.5 in.

SWE

Runoff

800 KAF

Apr–Jul

Flow

7,740

cfs

Snow-water equivalent is the amount of water held in the snowpack. It is not the same as river flow, but it is the upstream water bank that usually funds spring runoff into the Colorado River system.

Plain-English translation: the mountains did not hold enough water this year to give the river its normal spring pulse.

Prototype source set: NOAA CBRFC • Central Arizona Project • U.S. Bureau of Reclamation • USGS Water Data

Current Snow Bank

2.5 in. SWE 23% median

What is left in the mountain snowpack above Lake Powell right now?

View Signal

Historic Context

record low hot winter

How unusual is this snow year compared with the observed record?

View Context

Trend Evidence

4 signals snow → flow

A compact proof card: snow, heat, runoff forecast, and Lake Powell inflow.

View Data

Consequences

detail page next build

Where the Snowpack chapter hands off to deeper reporting and next modules.

Preview Drilldown

Snowpack Detail Page Preview

Snow Stored

2.5 in.

Snow-water equivalent above Lake Powell in early May.

Normal Comparison

23%

Percent of 30-year median for the same date.

Runoff Forecast

13%

Lake Powell Apr–Jul inflow forecast compared with average.

System Meaning

Low Flow

Less refill pressure relief for Powell, Mead, CAP, power, and aquifers.

Why snowpack is the first warning light

Source water · mountain storage · runoff timing

The Colorado River crisis starts high in the mountains. Snow-water equivalent is the water held inside the snowpack. When that bank is far below normal, the system loses the spring refill pulse that normally feeds Lake Powell and supports downstream releases.

Reader translation: this is not just a scenic mountain-snow problem. It is the first visible loss in the river’s annual water supply chain.

Future deep dive

Trends · field reports · news · source documents

This card can become a link to a full Snowpack Detail page with historical charts, CBRFC briefings, NRCS SNOTEL maps, expert interviews, news clips, and a plain-English explanation of how snow becomes — or fails to become — river flow.

Placeholder path: /water-snowpack-detail

How This Story Moves Forward

From Snowpack Failure to Southwest Consequences

Each module should hand the reader to the next question. The goal is a guided, public-facing road map: one cause, one consequence, one official signal at a time.

Chapter 01

Snowpack

How much water is still stored in the mountains above Lake Powell?

Chapter 02

Runoff

How much of that mountain water is expected to become river inflow?

Chapter 03

Lake Powell

What does the inflow forecast mean for storage and Glen Canyon operations?

Chapter 04

River Flow

What is actually passing downstream at Lees Ferry and into Grand Canyon?

Chapter 05

Lake Mead

How do low releases and low inflows affect Mead, Hoover, and Lower Basin supply?

Chapter 06

Arizona

What happens to CAP, cities, farms, tribes, aquifers, and local water planning?

Chapter 07

Demand

How do growth, mines, power, and groundwater pumping add pressure to the system?