Lake Powell Rose More Than 20 Feet After Fall Storms, Outpacing Spring Snowmelt
September rain did more for Lake Powell than the entire spring snowmelt season, lifting the reservoir 2.4 feet during the month, while the 2026 snowmelt runoff managed only 1.9 feet, according to the University of Colorado Boulder’s Western Water Assessment. The lake kept rising after that, and by November 8, 2026, it had climbed more than 20 feet since September 30, according to Bureau of Reclamation measurements. That rise started from a deep hole, since Lake Powell’s usable storage stood at just 22 percent of capacity at the end of September, and while El Niño could bring more relief, with NOAA forecasting increased chances of a wetter fall and winter across parts of the Southwest, even a wet season wouldn’t erase years of water shortages. How Fall Rain Raised Lake Powell’s Water Level Much of the September boost came from a wet stretch in parts of the San Juan River basin, where rainfall helped refill both Navajo Reservoir and Lake Powell, according to Western Water Assessment. The rain didn’t benefit every river equally, though: some in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming carried very high flows afterward, while others stayed below normal, and even with improvements in some places, reservoirs across all
