By Mike Donahue

Moapa Valley Progress

Several ferocious storms that pounded the upper tier of the nation recently doubled the snowpack high in the upper Colorado River Basin considerably brightening the poor water picture for Lake Mead this year.

“The phenomenal amount of snow that fell (in mid January) boosted the snowpack from 25 to 45 percent of average to 50 to 70 percent,” said Randy Julander, a federal snow survey data collection officer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). “That means that while water for Lake Mead and Lake Powell is still expected to be less than average, it looks like it’s not going to be quite as bad as earlier projected.”

Julander, whose Salt Lake City office collects snow data for Nevada, Utah and California, said the water picture for Lake Mead was pretty bleak just a month ago at the end of 2011.

The snowpack for the entire upper Colorado River Basin was in terrible shape, Julander said. Some areas had less than a quarter of average.

The bad news was disheartening for Southern Nevadans who were buoyed last fall by the extraordinary amount of water that had poured into Lake Mead after an incredible snow year in 2010-2011. The water level in the huge reservoir climbed an astonishing 50 feet from a record low in November 2010 to December 2011.

And while the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in late fall predicted an additional 10 feet of new water in Lake Mead over the next year, it’s possible the lake could actually lose 13 feet by January 2013.

But Julander said it’s too early to give up all hope.

“The bottom line is that water for Lake Mead and Lake Powell will be below average,” Julander said. “But it’s early yet. While it’s hard to predict with a 100 percent degree of certainty, we’re expecting a series of storms (in early February) that could bring in some heavy snows.

“It’s still bad but it’s getting better,” he said. “Any little storm that comes through has the potential to add to the snowpack. We’ll obviously have a much better picture by the end of February, first of March.”

Water in Lake Mead last week was at 1,134.38 feet of elevation up from a low of 1,081.90 in November 2010.