Lake Powell hits record low of 3,517 feet amid Colorado Basin snow drought

September 22, 2026 at 05:00 AM2 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the United States, fell to a record-low water level of 3,517.24 feet in early September 2026. The decline followed an unusually weak 2025-2026 mountain snowpack and record warmth across the Colorado Basin. Lake Mead also reached record lows in August 2026, while the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation began emergency water releases from Flaming Gorge Reservoir to protect hydropower generation.

Key Facts

Lake Powell's water surface stood at 3,517.24 feet on September 10, 2026, below the previous record low of 3,519.92 feet set on April 13, 2023.
Lake Mead also reached record-low levels in August 2026.
More than 40 million people depend on the Colorado River system, which also supplies water to roughly 5 million acres of farmland.
In April 2026, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation began releasing additional water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir in northern Utah and southern Wyoming to stabilize Lake Powell.

Record Low at Lake Powell

Satellite images from the NASA-USGS Landsat 8 satellite captured the change in Lake Powell near Glen Canyon Dam between September 1, 2017, and September 10, 2026. In the 2026 image, Lake Powell's water surface stood at 3,517.24 feet, roughly a month after falling below its previous record low of 3,519.92 feet set on April 13, 2023. The 2017 image shows Lake Powell during one of its highest water levels of the past decade.

Snow Drought and Warmth

The Upper Colorado Basin received unusually little snow during winter 2025-2026, amounting to a snow drought. Periods of record warmth further reduced the snowpack, and the spring snowmelt delivered far less water to reservoirs than normal. The Colorado River system is managed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and other agencies and supplies water to Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

Emergency Measures

In April 2026, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation began taking measures to stabilize Lake Powell and prevent the reservoir from dropping below the elevation required for hydropower generation. The agency considered that possibility realistic by August 2026 without intervention. To support Lake Powell, the Bureau released additional water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir in northern Utah and southern Wyoming and reduced releases from Lake Powell into Lake Mead.