Upper Colorado River Basin snowpack

Snow-water-equivalent — the leading indicator of Lake Powell and Lake Mead

Western Reservoir Conditions·Daily·No. 20·Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Upper Colorado River Basin snowpack peaked at about 72% of normal in water year 2026 — below normal — across a panel of 14 high-elevation SNOTEL stations feeding Lake Powell and Lake Mead.
Peak snow-water-equivalent came around March 16, 2026; the basin now holds about 0.0 inches of SWE on average as the pack melts into the reservoirs.
Snowpack is the leading indicator of reservoir levels: this winter’s snow becomes this summer’s inflow to Powell, then Mead.

Basin snowpack, WY 2026 peak

72%

of normal · below normal

Stations

Upper Colorado SNOTEL panel

Basin-average snow-water-equivalent across 14 Upper Colorado SNOTEL stations, water year 2026 (Oct 1–present), inches. Source: NRCS SNOTEL / AWDB.

Why snowpack drives Lake Mead

About 90% of the water in the Colorado River begins as mountain snow in the Upper Basin — Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. That snowpack builds through winter, peaks near April 1, then melts through spring and summer and runs off into Lake Powell, which releases downstream to Lake Mead. A low-snow winter shows up months later as low reservoir inflow, which is why snowpack is the earliest reliable signal of where the reservoirs are heading.

Snowpack by station

This water year’s peak snow-water-equivalent versus the median peak of the prior ~19 years, for each station in the panel. "Now" is the latest reading as the pack melts out.

Station	WY peak	Normal peak	% normal	Now
Elkhart Park, WY	11.2"	11.9"	94%	0.0"
Spring Creek Divide, WY	23.9"	26.1"	92%	0.0"
Big Sandy Opening, WY	10.8"	13.6"	79%	0.0"
Indian Creek, WY	19.7"	24.9"	79%	0.0"
Pocket Creek, WY	9.4"	11.9"	79%	0.0"
Spirit Lake, UT	10.4"	13.2"	79%	0.0"
Lakefork Basin, UT	17.0"	22.3"	76%	0.0"
Brown Duck, UT	13.2"	18.0"	73%	0.0"
Five Points Lake, UT	13.4"	19.0"	71%	0.1"
Chepeta, UT	9.8"	14.3"	69%	0.0"
Black Mesa, CO	15.0"	22.2"	68%	0.0"
Berthoud Summit, CO	12.2"	22.7"	54%	0.0"
Fremont Pass, CO	9.8"	20.2"	49%	0.0"
Slumgullion, CO	6.4"	14.6"	44%	0.0"

Panel of NRCS SNOTEL stations (snow-water-equivalent, element WTEQ) in the Upper Colorado region (HUC 14), via the public-domain AWDB REST API. "% of normal" compares this year’s peak SWE to the median peak of prior water years for the same stations — a representative index, not the official NRCS basin figure. For the official basin report see NRCS Interactive Map.